Just curious. I have two 'pubring' files in ~/.gnupg/
~/.gnupg/
~/.gnupg $ ls | grep pubring pubring.kbx pubring.kbx~
Can someone tell me what the pubring.kbx~ file is and if I need it?
pubring.kbx~
pfr Trailing ~ usually means it's a backup file.
neubaer I thought that too, but it's contents are different (shorter)
pfr but it's contents are different (shorter)
If you add entries, then the backup (old contents) will be shorter. Conversely, if you delete entries, then the backup will be longer. Compare the files using a hex editor (or hexdump -C).
hexdump -C