Packetizer Forums

Hello,
I'm running Elementary OS which is based on Ubuntu 12.04. I'm a new Linux user.
I installed the 64Bit Gui version which runs fine.
However, when I want to use the console with aescrypt_keygen it says: I tried to install the source code using the instructions in the Documentation pdf. I can unzip the tar.gz and navigate into the folder.
However, tryping in results in I have the build-essentials and the GnuC++ compiler installed.

Any idea what went wrong?

Thanks a lot.

The GUI version of AES Crypt on Linux does not have the keygen tool. So, you'll have to do what you're looking to do, which is to compile newer code from the source code.

You should see a file called Makefile. Apparently, whatever directory you're in, there is no makefile.

One you get it complied, you will want to out the keygen tool in /use/bin (or /use/local/bin) and replace the current aescrypt binary. You can learn where the current one is by typing "which aescrypt".

Thank you for your reply.
After reading your post I checked the contents of the unzipped file and realized that the "makefile" is not in the parent folder but in a subfolder. instead of After navigating into the subfolder I was able to use make.
A newbie mistake, I guess.
Perhaps you can adjust the documentation pdf?

If it's not clear, yes, I should.

Alas, I have that and a big pile of things. I'll put it on my list.

Paulej,

can you tell me the command for decrypting a .tar.aes with the keyfile in the command line?

After managing to install the source code I succeded in using the encryption command (location and filename changed for my purposes): However, as a newbie, I can't figure out how to decrypt the resulting .tar.aes.

Thank you.

Before you can try to untar the file, you need to decrypt it. Try something like:
Something like that should work. The -o flag on aescrypt tells it to send the decrypted file to stdout so you can pipe it to tar.

paulej wrote:Before you can try to untar the file, you need to decrypt it. Try something like:

Code: Select all

aescrypt -d -k keyfile -o - backup_files.tar.aes | tar -xvf -

Nearly perfect, but restoring needs an additional option:

You don't need "-C /" if the tar file contains the absolute path /home.

paulej wrote:You don't need "-C /" if the tar file contains the absolute path /home.

That's right, but then restoring within my homedir, this doesn't work as expected.

Ah! You're right. Many years ago, it appears tar changed behavior and removes absolute pathnames when archiving. I never noticed, because I learned long ago that using absolute pathnames was a bad idea.

I hate changes like that. It's putting in exceptions to logic to try to help the novice. And while it does this, it prints a message to tell you it did it. That's really annoying. Fortunately, I never use tar this way.