I uninstalled Librewolf, I am trying to install it using DNF and it fails, " Public key is not installed."

After several failures this is one of the suggested solutions I found , I tried this before installing

cd /var/cache/libdnf5
/var/cache/libdnf5$ sudo rm -rf repository-d3659b612308432a

installation attempt

 sudo dnf install librewolf
Updating and loading repositories:
 LibreWolf Software Repository                                                                             100% | 508.0   B/s |   3.8 KiB |  00m08s
>>> repomd.xml GPG signature verification error: Signing key not found                                                                             
 https://repo.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg                                                                     100% |   9.0 KiB/s |  10.2 KiB |  00m01s
Importing OpenPGP key 0x2B12EF16:
 UserID     : "LibreWolf Maintainers <gpg@librewolf.net>"
 Fingerprint: 662E3CDD6FE329002D0CA5BB40339DD82B12EF16
 From       : https://repo.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg
Is this ok [y/N]: y
The key was successfully imported.
 LibreWolf Software Repository                                                                             100% |   1.9 KiB/s |   5.2 KiB |  00m03s
Repositories loaded.
Package                                          Arch         Version                                           Repository                     Size
Installing:
 librewolf                                       x86_64       150.0.3-1                                         repository                417.5 MiB

Transaction Summary:
 Installing:         1 package

Total size of inbound packages is 134 MiB. Need to download 134 MiB.
After this operation, 417 MiB extra will be used (install 417 MiB, remove 0 B).
Is this ok [y/N]: y
[1/1] librewolf-0:150.0.3-1.x86_64                                                                         100% |   2.6 MiB/s | 134.2 MiB |  00m52s
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1/1] Total                                                                                                100% |   2.6 MiB/s | 134.2 MiB |  00m52s
[1/2] https://repo.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg                                           ???% [<=>               ] |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
[1/2] https://repo.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg                                           ???% [<=>               ] |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
[1/2] https://repo.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg                                           ???% [<=>               ] |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
[1/2] https://repo.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg                                           ???% [ <=>              ] |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m01s
[1/2] https://repo.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg                                           ???% [ <=>              ] |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m01s
[1/2] https://repo.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg                                           ???% [ <=>              ] |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m01s
[1/2] https://repo.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg                                            56% [==========        ] |   4.7 KiB/s |   5.8 KiB |  00m00s
[1/2] https://repo.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg                                           100% [==================] |   4.7 KiB/s |  10.2 KiB |  00m00s
[1/2] https://repo.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg                                                                100% |   6.8 KiB/s |  10.2 KiB |  00m02s
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2/2] Total                                                                                                100% |   2.6 MiB/s | 134.2 MiB |  00m52s
Transaction failed: Signature verification failed.
Public key "https://repo.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg" is already present, not importing.
OpenPGP check for package "librewolf-150.0.3-1.x86_64" (/var/cache/libdnf5/repository-d3659b612308432a/packages/librewolf-150.0.3-1-linux-x86_64-rpm.rpm) from repo "repository" has failed: Public key is not installed.

@user-2025 ,

I had the same thing. Here’s what I did:

sudo rpm  -e gpg-pubkey-662e3cdd6fe329002d0ca5bb40339dd82b12ef16-627f7187
sudo rpm --import https://rpm.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg

Then carry on with normal dnf install or dnf update (my case).

Best of luck!

did not work

error: package gpg-pubkey-662e3cdd6fe329002d0ca5bb40339dd82b12ef16-627f7187 is not installed
warning: Certificate 40339DD82B12EF16:
  Subkey 8A74EAAF89C17944 was revoked: No reason specified

Hrm, Ok. We’ll need to go fishing to be sure:

> sudo rpm -qa --queryformat "%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE} %{PACKAGER}\n" | grep -i librewolf
gpg-pubkey-662e3cdd6fe329002d0ca5bb40339dd82b12ef16-627f7187 LibreWolf Maintainers <gpg@librewolf.net>
librewolf-150.0.3-1 <@4d51329c98e3>

We are confirming what’s already installed, e.g. is there another gpg key, but the fingerprint is in your dnf output: 662E3CDD6FE329002D0CA5BB40339DD82B12EF16.

So if you get no matches from the rpm query command, then maybe just help dnf help you with:

sudo rpm --import https://rpm.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg

If that is successful, then you can query it with

sudo rpm -qi gpg-pubkey-662e3cdd6fe329002d0ca5bb40339dd82b12ef16-627f7187

I guess failing all that, you can download (with wget or cURL) the GPG to your disk and do the rpm –import pubkey.gpg from there (and not a URL).

There is a new-ish rpmkeys command but I still do/use rpm –import <KEY> (it nags me about rpmkeys.

Best of luck!

response

sudo rpm -qa --queryformat "%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE} %{PACKAGER}\n" | grep -i librewolf
gpg-pubkey-662e3cdd6fe329002d0ca5bb40339dd82b12ef16-627f7187 LibreWolf Maintainers <gpg@librewolf.net>
librewolf-150.0.3-1 <@4d51329c98e3
gpg-pubkey-2b12ef16-627f7187 LibreWolf Maintainers <gpg@librewolf.net>
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'
bash: @4d51329c98e3: No such file or directory

thank you for taking ur time btw

Is there a way to remove all Librewolf files to clear this error

Whoops, sorry. Here’s the command (it’s one line) you need to run (I am using bash in Konsole/KDE):

sudo rpm -qa --queryformat "%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE} %{PACKAGER}\n" | grep -i librewolf

On my system, this command produces:

gpg-pubkey-662e3cdd6fe329002d0ca5bb40339dd82b12ef16-627f7187 LibreWolf Maintainers <gpg@librewolf.net>
librewolf-150.0.3-1 <@4d51329c98e3>

If you want to remove anything that gets found on your system:

# there is a space delimited two pieces of data
sudo rpm -e librewolf-150.0.3-1

or

sudo rpm -e gpg-pubkey-662e3cdd6fe329002d0ca5bb40339dd82b12ef16-627f7187

Best of luck!

response

gpg-pubkey-2b12ef16-627f7187 LibreWolf Maintainers <gpg@librewolf.net>

is this a match and what do I do next

sudo rpm -e gpg-pubkey-2b12ef16-627f7187

This will remove the key.

To re-install the key:

sudo rpm --import https://rpm.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg

To confirm the install of the key:

sudo rpm -qi gpg-pubkey-662e3cdd6fe329002d0ca5bb40339dd82b12ef16-627f7187

Then you should be able install librewolf.

Best of Luck!

Recent RPM versions provide a command dedicated to key management: rpmkeys.

$ sudo rpmkeys --list | grep -i librewolf
2b12ef16-627f7187: LibreWolf Maintainers <gpg@librewolf.net> public key

$ sudo rpmkeys --delete 2b12ef16-627f7187

$ sudo rpmkeys --import https://rpm.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg
warning: Certificate 40339DD82B12EF16:
  Subkey 8A74EAAF89C17944 was revoked: No reason specified

$ sudo rpmkeys --list | grep -i librewolf
2b12ef16-627f7187: LibreWolf Maintainers <gpg@librewolf.net> public key

Confusing is that the key with finger-print 2b12ef16-627f7187 is replaced by a new key with the same fingerprint. Probably the LibreWolf maintainers have revoked/replaced a subkey only used for package signing. Unfortunately the revoke warning will be issued now also for each LibreWolf (update) installation.

Librewolf team would be very happy to know your questions. Librewolf still in development, so bugs are learning them much

sudo rpm -qi gpg-pubkey-662e3cdd6fe329002d0ca5bb40339dd82b12ef16-627f7187
sudo rpm --import https://rpm.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg
warning: Certificate 40339DD82B12EF16:
  Subkey 8A74EAAF89C17944 was revoked: No reason specified
sudo rpm -qi gpg-pubkey-662e3cdd6fe329002d0ca5bb40339dd82b12ef16-627f7187
package gpg-pubkey-662e3cdd6fe329002d0ca5bb40339dd82b12ef16-627f7187 is not installed

It failed to install

Geez louise! This is a challenge!

In normal, every day Fedora “usage”, this “updating” process just works without much end-user intervention. But there seems to be LibreWolf subkey issues and some dnf5 bugs coalescing to give us a bumpy ride.

Don’t include the prompt> part when you copy these commands.

Step 1: Check for any installed librewolf RPM keys:

prompt> rpm -qa gpg-pubkey --qf '%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}\t%{SUMMARY}\n' | grep -i libre

If you get anything returned from that command, you need to do

prompt> sudo rpmkeys --delete copy_the_key_part_and_paste_here

or you can copy the entire response, a single line at a time, and paste it for this command:

prompt> sudo rpm -e the_whole_line_returned_in_step_1_command

But the objective with this step is to make sure you don’t have any librewolf RPM keys. DNF keys are different and we’ll get to those next.

You should re-run the command from Step 1 to confirm you don’t get any results back from the query command.

Step 2: after confirming there’s no librewolf keys installed, we need to zero out the dnf cache with:

prompt> sudo dnf clean all

This will erase any stored keys from the DNF keystore. This is different than the RPM keystore (e.g. Step 1).

Step 3: import the RPM key for librewolf:

prompt> sudo rpmkeys --import https://repo.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg
warning: Certificate 40339DD82B12EF16:
  Subkey 8A74EAAF89C17944 was revoked: No reason specified

Your output should be identical to mine. Also, a revoked subkey isn’t a blocker. They rotated (again) this month.

Step 4: confirm the RPM key is imported (e.g. Step 3):

prompt> rpm -qa gpg-pubkey --qf '%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}\t%{SUMMARY}\n' | grep -i libre
gpg-pubkey-662e3cdd6fe329002d0ca5bb40339dd82b12ef16-627f7187    LibreWolf Maintainers <gpg@librewolf.net> public key

Step 5: If you don’t get the same response that I got, STOP! There’s something else going on. Report the output back here so we can take a look.

Step 6: assuming you have the RPM key installed, let’s install LibreWolf browser:

prompt> sudo dnf install librewolf

Usually, this will take a few minutes depending on a bunch of factors. But eventually you should get this:

 https://repo.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg                                                      100% |  36.0 KiB/s |  10.2 KiB |  00m00s
Importing OpenPGP key 0x2B12EF16:
 UserID     : "LibreWolf Maintainers <gpg@librewolf.net>"
 Fingerprint: 662E3CDD6FE329002D0CA5BB40339DD82B12EF16
 From       : https://repo.librewolf.net/pubkey.gpg
Is this ok [y/N]:

This is the importing of the librewolf key into the DNF keystore. Hit “y” + enter here. Then you should get:

The key was successfully imported.
 LibreWolf Software Repository                                                              100% |   3.2 KiB/s |   5.2 KiB |  00m02s
Repositories loaded.
Package                                     Arch        Version                                     Repository                  Size
Installing:
 librewolf                                  x86_64      151.0-1                                     librewolf              418.0 MiB

Transaction Summary:
 Installing:         1 package

Total size of inbound packages is 134 MiB. Need to download 134 MiB.
After this operation, 418 MiB extra will be used (install 418 MiB, remove 0 B).
Is this ok [y/N]:

Take note of The key was successfully imported. If you don’t see this, then you will, most likely have an issue on install. Report the output here again. If you do see that message, then hit “y” + enter. Then you should get to the whole point of all these steps: an install or upgrade of LibreWolf browser:

[1/1] librewolf-0:151.0-1.x86_64                                        23% [====              ] |   1.4 MiB/s |  32.2 MiB |  01m10s
[1/1] librewolf-0:151.0-1.x86_64                                                            100% | 760.8 KiB/s | 134.3 MiB |  03m01s
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1/1] Total                                                                                 100% | 760.8 KiB/s | 134.3 MiB |  03m01s
Running transaction
[1/3] Verify package files                                                                  100% |   4.0   B/s |   1.0   B |  00m00s
[2/3] Prepare transaction                                                                   100% |   2.0   B/s |   1.0   B |  00m01s
[3/3] Installing librewolf-0:151.0-1.x86_64                                                 100% | 252.7 MiB/s | 418.0 MiB |  00m02s
Complete!

And you can see, for me, it took 3+ minutes to download LibreWolf.

If you have to come back and report issues, please provide your Fedora version and if you can, the dnf version:

prompt> dnf --version
dnf5 version 5.2.18.0
dnf5 plugin API version 2.0
libdnf5 version 5.2.18.0
libdnf5 plugin API version 2.2

Best of Luck (again)!