Installing the PGP Helper Certificate in Firefox

Firefox uses its own certificate store instead of the system's. Here are two ways to install the PGP Helper certificate.

Method 1: Manual Installation through Firefox UI

1. Open Firefox
2. Go to Menu (≡) -> Settings -> Privacy & Security
3. Scroll down to "Certificates" section
4. Click "View Certificates"
5. In the Certificate Manager, go to "Authorities" tab
6. Click "Import"
7. Navigate to ~/.pgp-helper/ca-cert.pem
8. In the dialog that appears, check:
   • "Trust this CA to identify websites"
9. Click "OK"
10. Click "OK" to close Certificate Manager

Note you might have to show hidden files to locate on MacOS / Linux

• MacOS: command + shift + .
• Ubuntu 22.04+: ctrl + h in the default file manager before clicking import

Note that you have to delete the PGP Helper Root CA from the Firefox Authorities store if you re-install the app.

Method 2: Command Line Installation (Using certutil)

Prerequisites

First, install certutil:

On macOS:

brew install nss

On Ubuntu:

sudo apt install libnss3-tools

On Windows:

# Download from Mozilla's archive
# https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/security/nss/releases/
# Extract and add to PATH

Installation Steps

1. Find your Firefox profile directory:

   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/
   • Linux: ~/.mozilla/firefox/
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\

2. Your profile folder will have a name like xxxxxxxx.default-release

3. Run the following command, replacing [PROFILE_PATH] with your actual profile path:

# macOS/Linux
certutil -A -n "PGP Helper Local Cert" -t "C,," -i ~/.pgp-helper/localhost.pem -d sql:$HOME/[PROFILE_PATH]

# Windows (PowerShell)
certutil -A -n "PGP Helper Local Cert" -t "C,," -i $HOME\.pgp-helper\localhost.pem -d sql:$env:APPDATA\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[PROFILE_PATH]

Verification

1. Open Firefox
2. Visit https://localhost:8080/status (or your configured port)
3. Check that the connection is secure (lock icon in address bar)
4. Click the lock icon -> Connection secure -> Certificate is valid

Troubleshooting

If you see "SEC_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ISSUER" after installation:

1. Restart Firefox
2. Check if the certificate was imported correctly in Certificate Manager
3. Verify the certificate path matches your PGP Helper installation

If using multiple Firefox profiles:

• Repeat the installation process for each profile you use
• Check Firefox's about:profiles page to see all active profiles

Re-installing the app

• You need to delete the trusted cert from Firefox following the