Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (4570 mails)

[James Knott <james.knott@xxxxxxxxxx>]

John R. Sowden wrote:
> On Sun November 13 2005 05:59, James Knott wrote:
>> John R. Sowden wrote:
>>> I am trying to create scripts to encrypt and decrypt text files, but the
>>> man pages, as most man pages do, take me about 80% of the way there. Is
>>> there a place on the net that explains these commands clearly, or is this
>>> part of the open source system to sell books?
>> You didn't mention what encryption method you're using, so I'll have to
>> use the Vulcan mind meld, to probe the depths of your brain for any
>> useful information.
>> .
>> .
>> .
>> Hmmm...  Nothing there.  Sorry, can't help you.  ;-)
> You're right, I didn't specify.  At the time I was trying gpg, then I tried 
> openssl.  My algorythym of choice is aes (small, fast, effective).
> In DOS, I have created compiled batch files which allow me to view, edit, 
> create, encrypt ans decrypt files using aes in a command line.  I was hoping 
> to do the same in linux, but it seems that the programs that use encryption 
> are only public key type, not simple file encryption (the simple file 
> encryption in gpg uses a 'recipient').
> I am already using an encrypted partition, but I enter the passphrase upon 
> booting.  These independent files will use separate keys, etc.

If you simply want to encrypt files for your own use, you can still use
gpg, but use your own public key, for the "recipient".  One thing to
bear in mind about public key methods, is that they're essentially a
wrapper for secret key encryption, where a random secret key is
generated at each use and that secret key is then encrypted with the
public key and decrypted with the private key. This method has a
performance benefit over using the public/private key to directly
protect the data.  It also provides a much smaller sample of data
encoded with the public key, which in turn makes it harder to break.