GPGDIR
Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: May, 2007
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NAME
gpgdir
- recursive directory encryption with GnuPG
SYNOPSIS
gpgdir -e|-d <directory> [options]
DESCRIPTION
gpgdir
is a perl script that uses the CPAN GnuPG::Interface perl module to recursively
encrypt and decrypt directories using gpg.
gpgdir
recursively descends through a directory in order to make sure it encrypts or
decrypts every file in a directory and all of its subdirectories. By default
the mtime and atime values of all files will be preserved upon encryption and
decryption (this can be disabled with the
--no-preserve-times
option). Note that in
--encrypt
mode, gpgdir will delete the original files that
it successfully encrypts (unless the
--no-delete
option is given). However,
upon startup gpgdir first asks for a the decryption password to be sure that a
dummy file can successfully be encrypted and decrypted. The initial test can
be disabled with the
--skip-test
option so that a directory can easily be encrypted without having to also
specify a password (this is consistent with
gpg
behavior). Also, note that gpgdir is careful not encrypt hidden files and
directories. After all, you probably don't want your ~/.gnupg directory or
~/.bashrc file to be encrypted. The key
gpgdir
uses to encrypt/decrypt a directory is specified in ~/.gpgdirrc.
Finally,
gpgdir
can use the
wipe
program with the
--Wipe
command line option to securely delete the original unencrypted files after they
have been successfully encrypted. This elevates the security stance of gpgdir
since it is more difficult to recover the unencrypted data associated with
files from the filesystem after they are encrypted (unlink() does not erase data
blocks even though a file is removed).
OPTIONS
- -e, --encrypt <directory>
-
Recursively encrypt all files in the directory specified on the command line.
All original files will be deleted (a password check is performed first to make
sure that the correct password to unlock the private GnuPG key is known to the
user).
- -d, --decrypt <directory>
-
Recursively decrypt all files in the directory specified on the command line.
The encrypted .gpg version of each file will be deleted.
- --sign <directory>
-
Recursively sign all files in the directory specified on the command line. For
each file, a detached .asc signature will be created.
- --verify <directory>
-
Recursively verify all .asc signatures for files in the directory specified on the
command line.
- -g, --gnupg-dir <directory>
-
Specify which .gnupg directory will be used to find GnuPG keys. The default
is ~/.gnupg if this option is not used. This option allows gpgdir to be
run as one user but use the keys of another user (assuming permissions are
setup correctly, etc.).
- -p, --pw-file <pw-file>
-
Read decryption password from
pw-file
instead of typing it on the command line.
- -t, --test-mode
-
Run an encryption and decryption test against a dummy file and exit. This
test is always run by default in both
--encrypt
and
--decrypt
mode.
- -S, --Symmetric
-
Instruct
gpgdir
to encrypt to decrypt files using a symmetric cipher supported by GnuPG
(CAST5 is commonly used). This results in a significant speed up for the
encryption/decryption process.
- -T, --Trial-run
-
Show what encrypt/decrypt actions would take place without actually doing
them. The filesystem is not changed in any way in this mode.
- -I, --Interactive
-
Prompt the user before actually encrypting or decrypting each file. This
is useful to have fine-grained control over
gpgdir
operations as it recurses through a directory structure.
- -F, --Force
-
Tell
gpgdir
to ignore non-fatal error conditions, such as the inability to encrypt or
decrypt individual files because of permissions errors.
- --Exclude <pattern>
-
Instruct gpgdir to skip all files that match
pattern
as a regex match against each filename. This is similar to the
--exclude
option in the standard GNU tar command.
- --Exclude-from <file>
-
Instruct gpgdir to exclude all files matched by patterns listed in
file.
This is similar to the
--exclude-from
the GNU tar command.
- --Include <pattern>
-
Instruct gpgdir to only include files that match
pattern
as a regex match against each filename.
- --Include-from <file>
-
Instruct gpgdir to only include files matched by patterns listed in
file.
- -W, --Wipe
-
Use the
wipe
program to securely delete files after they have been successfully encrypted.
- -O, --Obfuscate-filename
-
Tell
gpgdir
to obfuscate the file names of files that it encrypts (in -e mode). The
names of each file are stored within the file .gpgdir_map_file for every
sub-directory, and this file is itself encrypted. In decryption mode (-d),
the -O argument reverses the process so that the original files are
restored.
- --overwrite-encrypted
-
Overwrite encrypted files even if a previous <file>.gpg file
already exists.
- --overwrite-decrypted
-
Overwrite decrypted files even if the previous unencrypted file already exists.
- -K, --Key-id <id>
-
Manually specify a GnuPG key ID from the command line. Because GnuPG
supports matching keys with a string,
id
does not strictly have to be a key ID; it can be a string that uniquely
matches a key in the GnuPG key ring.
- -D, --Default-key
-
Use the key that GnuPG defines as the default, i.e. the key that is specified
by the
default-key
variable in ~/.gnupg/options. If the default-key variable is not defined
within ~/.gnupg/options, then GnuPG tries to use the first suitable key on
its key ring (the initial encrypt/decrypt test makes sure that the user
knows the corresponding password for the key).
- -a, --agent
-
Instruct
gpgdir
to acquire gpg key password from a running
gpg-agent
instance.
- -A, --Agent-info <connection info>
-
Specify the value of the GPG_AGENT_INFO environment variable as returned
by the
gpg-agent --daemon
command. If the
gpgdir --agent
command line argument is used instead of
--Agent-info,
then gpgdir assumes that the GPG_AGENT_INFO environment variable has already
been set in the current shell.
- -s, --skip-test
-
Skip encryption and decryption test. This will allow
gpgdir
to be used to encrypt a directory without specifying a password (which
normally gets used in encryption mode to test to make sure decryption
against a dummy file works properly).
- -q, --quiet
-
Print as little as possible to the screen when encrypting or decrypting
a directory.
- --no-recurse
-
Instruct gpgdir to not recurse through any subdirectories of the directory
that is being encrypted or decrypted.
- --no-password
-
Instruct gpgdir to not ask the user for a password. This is only useful
when a gpg key literally has no associated password (this is not common).
- --no-delete
-
Instruct gpgdir to not delete original files at encrypt time.
- --no-preservetimes
-
Instruct gpgdir to not preserve original file mtime and atime values
upon encryption or decryption.
- -l, --locale <locale>
-
Provide a locale setting other than the default "C" locale.
- --no-locale
-
Do not set the locale at all so that the default system locale will apply.
- -v, --verbose
-
Run in verbose mode.
- -V, --Version
-
Print version number and exit.
- -h, --help
-
Print usage information and exit.
FILES
~/.gpgdirrc
-
Contains the key id of the user gpg key that will be used to encrypt
or decrypt the files within a directory.
EXAMPLES
The following examples illustrate the command line arguments that could
be supplied to gpgdir in a few situations:
To encrypt a directory:
$ gpgdir -e /some/dir
To encrypt a directory, and use the wipe command to securely delete the original
unencrypted files:
$ gpgdir -W -e /some/dir
To encrypt a directory with the default GnuPG key defined in ~/.gnupg/options:
$ gpgdir -e /some/dir --Default-key
To decrypt a directory with a key specified in ~/.gpgdirrc:
$ gpgdir -d /some/dir
To encrypt a directory but skip all filenames that contain the string "host":
$ gpgdir -e /some/dir --Exclude host
To encrypt a directory but only encrypt those files that contain the string "passwd":
$ gpgdir -e /some/dir --Include passwd
To acquire the GnuPG key password from a running gpg-agent daemon in order to decrypt
a directory (this requires that gpg-agent has the password):
$ gpgdir -A /tmp/gpg-H4DBhc/S.gpg-agent:7046:1 -d /some/dir
To encrypt a directory but skip the encryption/decryption test (so you will
not be prompted for a decryption password):
$ gpgdir -e /some/dir -s
To encrypt a directory and no subdirectories:
$ gpgdir -e /some/dir --no-recurse
To encrypt root's home directory, but use the GnuPG keys associated with the user "bob":
# gpgdir -e /root -g /home/bob/.gnupg
DEPENDENCIES
gpgdir
requires that gpg, the Gnu Privacy Guard (http://www.gnupg.org) is installed.
gpgdir
also requires the GnuPG::Interface perl module from CPAN, but it is bundled with
gpgdir
and is installed in /usr/lib/gpgdir at install-time so it does not pollute the
system perl library tree.
SEE ALSO
gpg(1)
AUTHOR
Michael Rash <mbr@cipherdyne.org>
CONTRIBUTORS
Many people who are active in the open source community have contributed to gpgdir;
see the
CREDITS
file in the gpgdir sources.
BUGS
Send bug reports to mbr@cipherdyne.org. Suggestions and/or comments are
always welcome as well.
DISTRIBUTION
gpgdir
is distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), and the latest
version may be downloaded from
http://www.cipherdyne.org
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- OPTIONS
-
- FILES
-
- EXAMPLES
-
- DEPENDENCIES
-
- SEE ALSO
-
- AUTHOR
-
- CONTRIBUTORS
-
- BUGS
-
- DISTRIBUTION
-
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Time: 03:55:27 GMT, October 03, 2008