gpg --list-keys output after deleting secret key

Question

I run gpg --list-keys and it shows me the keys present in the keyring:

/home/kshitiz/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
--------------------------------
pub   4096R/8F64D7E0 2015-02-18
uid                  Kshitiz Sharma (http://ksharma.in) <[email protected]>
sub   4096R/C87EAA9F 2015-02-18
sub   4096R/B63EFB4D 2015-02-18

I delete my secret key:

$ gpg --delete-secret-key [email protected]
sec  4096R/8F64D7E0 2015-02-18 Kshitiz Sharma (http://ksharma.in) <[email protected]>

Delete this key from the keyring? (y/N) y
This is a secret key! - really delete? (y/N) y

And then list keys again gpg --list-keys. Same output:

/home/kshitiz/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
--------------------------------
pub   4096R/8F64D7E0 2015-02-18
uid                  Kshitiz Sharma (http://ksharma.in) <[email protected]>
sub   4096R/C87EAA9F 2015-02-18
sub   4096R/B63EFB4D 2015-02-18

Why didn't the secret key 8F64D7E0 get deleted?

Weirdly, running gpg --delete-secret-key again says key not found:

gpg: key "[email protected]" not found: eof
gpg: [email protected]: delete key failed: eof

Answer 1

GPG stores public and private keys in different places.

You output mentions : /home/kshitiz/.gnupg/pubring.gpg which holds the "public" key (pubring)

If you want to list private keys you have to use the --list-secret-keys switch.

As per why the key 8F64D7E0 does not get deleted, it's because you asked to destroy the private key only. Since deleting a private key does not impact the public key, there is no need for it to be cascade deleted.