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Re: Looking for advice on tools (or libraries) for unsupervised, bulk symmetric encryption/decryption of files

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On 1/9/19 6:05 AM, Kynn Jones wrote:
> I am looking for software to symmetric-encrypt large numbers of files on
> disk (terabytes' worth of data), and would appreciate some advice.
> 
> My basic requirements:
> 
>     - It should be open source and no-cost (though, since I'm asking this
>     question here, this goes without saying);
>     - I should be able to program scripts (shell, Python, Perl, or Ruby) to
>     run this software without human intervention; this rules out tools that are
>     designed for interactive use.
>     - It should be stable; I should be able to decrypt encrypted files that
>     were encrypted several years earlier; (how much earlier?  hard to say;
>     let's say 10 years, as a rough ballpark)
> 
> In addition, the following would be nice:
> 
>     - good documentation;
>     - good performance;
>     - bindings for a high-level language (preferably Python).
> 
> The only encryption tool I have used for encrypting files on my hard drive
> is gpg2, which I have used for small, interactive encryption tasks
> (half-dozen files, at most).
> 
> Therefore, my initial attempt was to use gpg2 for this new bulk-encryption
> task, but I found myself constantly fighting with it, and finally had to
> recognize that I was trying to use gpg2 for something it is not primarily
> designed for.  (I am also a bit concerned with gpg2's future stability.
> AFAICT, It's design has varied significantly over the years, and as a
> result there's a lot of confusion on its use.  That has been my experience,
> in any case.)
> 
> So I am back to square one.
> 
> I stress that I am interested only in symmetric encryption.  The issues
> that asymmetric encryption addresses are not at all part of the problem I
> am dealing with, and therefore I don't want to have to deal with the
> complexities of asymmetric encryption.
> 
> What Debian packages would you recommend?
> 
> Many thanks in advance!
> 
> kj

I use the ccrypt(1) suite for encrypting files using only a password 
(e.g. not PKI).  I wrap the CLI tools with Bash and/or Perl scripts to 
automate repetitive tasks (Python, Ruby, and other scripting languages 
should also work).  It is available via the Debian package 'ccrypt'.

http://ccrypt.sourceforge.net/


David

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Thread

Looking for advice on tools (or libraries) for unsupervised, bulk  symmetric encryption/decryption of files Kynn Jones <kynnjo@gmail.com> - 2019-01-09 15:10 +0100
  Re: Looking for advice on tools (or libraries) for unsupervised, bulk  symmetric encryption/decryption of files David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2019-01-09 20:00 +0100
  Re: Looking for advice on tools (or libraries) for unsupervised,          bulk symmetric encryption/decryption of files Linux-Fan <Ma_Sys.ma@web.de> - 2019-01-10 00:50 +0100
  Re: Looking for advice on tools (or libraries) for unsupervised,  bulk symmetric encryption/decryption of files Celejar <celejar@gmail.com> - 2019-01-10 04:20 +0100
    Re: Looking for advice on tools (or libraries) for unsupervised,  bulk symmetric encryption/decryption of files Jonathan Dowland <jmtd@debian.org> - 2019-01-11 22:50 +0100
      Re: Looking for advice on tools (or libraries) for unsupervised,  bulk symmetric encryption/decryption of files Celejar <celejar@gmail.com> - 2019-01-13 04:50 +0100
        Re: Looking for advice on tools (or libraries) for unsupervised, bulk  symmetric encryption/decryption of files John Crawley <john@bunsenlabs.org> - 2019-01-13 10:00 +0100
  Re: Looking for advice on tools (or libraries) for unsupervised, bulk  symmetric encryption/decryption of files Ben Caradoc-Davies <ben@transient.nz> - 2019-01-10 06:10 +0100

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