How to work around blocked outbound hkp port for apt keys

"Here's one workaround I used:

I logged onto a linux server out in the free world beyond our corporate firewall, and did this:

gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv 1DABDBB4CEC06767 && gpg --export --armor 1DABDBB4CEC06767

Then on my workstation, I ran this, and pasted the output from the above command (the public key) into the stdin, followed by control-D:

sudo apt-key add -

Then I was able to run sudo apt-get update without problems.

I still think there has to be a better way, ideally something I could script."

"I found a neat way of doing it in a single command through port 80 which is always open for www traffic.

http://gurrier.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/downlolading-repo-keys-from-behind-a-corporate-firewall/"

"A simple solution is:

sudo add-apt-repository --keyserver hkps://keyserver.ubuntu.com:443 some_ppa

The secure https (outgoing 443) would not be blocked by the firewall."

"I simply use ssh to forward the port to an external host then run the apt-add-repo command.

ssh -fqTnN -D 11371 <user@host>"