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diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/ecryptfs.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/ecryptfs.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..1f2edef4c57a --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/ecryptfs.rst @@ -0,0 +1,86 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +====================================================== +eCryptfs: A stacked cryptographic filesystem for Linux +====================================================== + +eCryptfs is free software. Please see the file COPYING for details. +For documentation, please see the files in the doc/ subdirectory. For +building and installation instructions please see the INSTALL file. + +:Maintainer: Phillip Hellewell +:Lead developer: Michael A. Halcrow <mhalcrow@us.ibm.com> +:Developers: Michael C. Thompson + Kent Yoder +:Web Site: http://ecryptfs.sf.net + +This software is currently undergoing development. Make sure to +maintain a backup copy of any data you write into eCryptfs. + +eCryptfs requires the userspace tools downloadable from the +SourceForge site: + +http://sourceforge.net/projects/ecryptfs/ + +Userspace requirements include: + +- David Howells' userspace keyring headers and libraries (version + 1.0 or higher), obtainable from + http://people.redhat.com/~dhowells/keyutils/ +- Libgcrypt + + +.. note:: + + In the beta/experimental releases of eCryptfs, when you upgrade + eCryptfs, you should copy the files to an unencrypted location and + then copy the files back into the new eCryptfs mount to migrate the + files. + + +Mount-wide Passphrase +===================== + +Create a new directory into which eCryptfs will write its encrypted +files (i.e., /root/crypt). Then, create the mount point directory +(i.e., /mnt/crypt). Now it's time to mount eCryptfs:: + + mount -t ecryptfs /root/crypt /mnt/crypt + +You should be prompted for a passphrase and a salt (the salt may be +blank). + +Try writing a new file:: + + echo "Hello, World" > /mnt/crypt/hello.txt + +The operation will complete. Notice that there is a new file in +/root/crypt that is at least 12288 bytes in size (depending on your +host page size). This is the encrypted underlying file for what you +just wrote. To test reading, from start to finish, you need to clear +the user session keyring: + +keyctl clear @u + +Then umount /mnt/crypt and mount again per the instructions given +above. + +:: + + cat /mnt/crypt/hello.txt + + +Notes +===== + +eCryptfs version 0.1 should only be mounted on (1) empty directories +or (2) directories containing files only created by eCryptfs. If you +mount a directory that has pre-existing files not created by eCryptfs, +then behavior is undefined. Do not run eCryptfs in higher verbosity +levels unless you are doing so for the sole purpose of debugging or +development, since secret values will be written out to the system log +in that case. + + +Mike Halcrow +mhalcrow@us.ibm.com |