How to remove a passphrase from a key? (I end up in an infinite loop and cannot remove the passphrase)

[Herbert]

Hi,
I need to remove a passphrase from my public/private key pair, because some other application, to where I need to transfer my keys, does not support encrypted keys: https://github.com/r10s/deltachat-core/issues/27#issuecomment-306330249

I tried via the key management, where I found the option "change passphrase...". However, when I try to set an empty (i.e. no) passphrase, Enigmail first prompts a couple of warnings because the key is weak, then it asks me if I really want no passphrase (see appendix). When I click "yes, protection is not necessary" ("Ja, ein Schutz ist nicht notwendig" in german), though, Enigmail prompts me again to set a new passphrase. It's the dialog I have seen in the beginning again. If I now proceed, I see all the warnings and so on again, until Enigmail prompts me again to set a new passphrase. It's an infinite loop.

Appendix: Last warning (in german)

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pinentry-qt4

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Sie möchten keine Passphrase - Dies ist nicht zu empfehlen!
Bitte

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Ja, ein Schutz ist nicht notwendig - Neue Passphrase eingeben

[Patrick Brunschwig]

The problem is that it is not Enigmail asking for confirmation, but GnuPG and pinentry. As far as I can see, the question is asked twice. I don't think that this can be fixed by Enigmail.

Can you try on the command line:
gpg --edit-key YOUR-KEY-ID passwd