"just invent something..."

[Ingo Klöcker]

On Donnerstag, 21. Mai 2020 00:14:40 CEST LisToFacTor via Gnupg-users wrote:
> English is not my native tongue, and the word I've chosen is based
> on my interpretation of the dialog presented by the program when
> generating the key:
>
> > GnuPG needs to construct a user ID to identify your key.
> >
> > Real name:
> upon entering an empty string, the response is:
> ...
> 
> > gpg: [internal]: no User-ID specified
> 
> (and the program quits with no further explanation)
> 
> To me, this appears to qualify as a demand for user's "Real name".

I suppose you also entered an empty string for "Email address":
```
$ gpg --gen-key
Note: Use "gpg2 --full-generate-key" for a full featured key generation 
dialog.

GnuPG needs to construct a user ID to identify your key.

Real name: 
Email address: 
You selected this USER-ID:
    ""

Change (N)ame, (E)mail, or (O)kay/(Q)uit? o
gpg: [internal]: no User-ID specified
```

Generating a key with empty "Real name" and non-empty "Email address" (and 
vice versa) works:
```
$ gpg --gen-key
Note: Use "gpg2 --full-generate-key" for a full featured key generation 
dialog.

GnuPG needs to construct a user ID to identify your key.

Real name: 
Email address: foo at example.com
You selected this USER-ID:
    "foo at example.com"

Change (N)ame, (E)mail, or (O)kay/(Q)uit? o
[...]
```
A key with above User-ID is generated.

I agree that there could be a more user-friendly error message than "gpg: 
[internal]: no User-ID specified". In particular, it makes little sense to ask 
the user if everything is okay if the empty values the user entered do not 
result in a valid User-ID.

Regards,
Ingo