> I would like to ask as to what is the best way to encrypt files in
> unix. I somehow started by tar then compress then using the crypt
> command to encrypt them. Is there a better solution around there?

There are many ways to encrypt files. The 'crypt' command is fairly
weak.

A popular solution is GnuPG, which in addition to the public/private key
architecture it's best known for can also do simple symmetric
encryption. If you're using Linux, this is probably already installed
on your system.

You can actually use the 'openssl' command to encrypt and decrypt
files.

A search for "encrypt" on Freshmeat
(http://freshmeat.net/search/?q=encrypt) will reveal a variety of
packages for handling file encryption.

-- Lars

--
Lars Kellogg-Stedman <8273grkci8q8kgt@jetable.net>
This email address will expire on 2005-11-23.

2005-11-16, 20:47(-08), hender:
> I would like to ask as to what is the best way to encrypt files in
> unix. I somehow started by tar then compress then using the crypt
> command to encrypt them. Is there a better solution around there?
[...]

beside, pgp and gpg, there's the openssl command that may be
slightly more likely to be installed on a Unix.

See "man enc" on such systems.

--
Stéphane

On 2005-11-17, Stephane CHAZELAS wrote:
> 2005-11-16, 20:47(-08), hender:
>> I would like to ask as to what is the best way to encrypt files in
>> unix. I somehow started by tar then compress then using the crypt
>> command to encrypt them. Is there a better solution around there?
> [...]
>
> beside, pgp and gpg, there's the openssl command that may be
> slightly more likely to be installed on a Unix.
>
> See "man enc" on such systems.
>

Although weak, the "zip/unzip" commands have an "-e" encryption flag
on most modern Linux systems.

--
-=[cwa]=-
e-Mail: chris at cwaiken dot net
Home: www.cwaiken.net

Thanks everyone. I have decided to use pgp.