introducing zuluCrypy, my first "real" contribution to FOSS

[muungwana]

I use cryptsetup to manage my encrypted volumes but it does not have a GUI front end and it was a pain to work with it from the command line. I wrote a simple script to simply the task of opening and closing volumes but i had to always go back to the terminal to access the command and hence i decided to write a Qt based front end to simplify things and its called "zuluCrypt".

I just made a first release and i am asking for users to test it and give feedback. The project is at:

http://code.google.com/p/zulucrypt/

download page is at: http://code.google.com/p/zulucrypt/downloads/list

I also wondering outloud how many people use truecrypt over crypsetup because it doesnt have a nice GUI.

[slax]

Keep up the good work

[melodie]

Hi,

Where are the screenshots ?

Regards,
Mélodie

[muungwana]

there is a link to a video on the main page. The link to the video is: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8juRKTjN4Q9MTFmM2E4ZmUtNjA5My00ODQwLWExNmMtMjk3YmI2ZDM5NjVm&sort=name&layout=list&num=50

you can see a screenshot at : http://qt-apps.org/content/show.php/zuluCrypt?content=145320

[muungwana]

i just released version 2.0

screenshots are here: https://picasaweb.google.com/109794855728648275729/ZuluCryptV20?authuser=0&feat=directlink

a video of how it works is here: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8juRKTjN4Q9MGY0ZDBjNDktMGFlMS00MGM1LTk0YzctZGU1YTcxYjgwZWQw&hl=en_US

what i have learned so far:

how to use git,qt creator, qt designer, kdevelop and Qt(nice toolkit).

what to learn next, packaging!!  ..will try to create a package for it and submit it. It should be embarrassing i know so much about pclinuxos but know nothing and havent even attempted to know anything about packaging.

Like they say, the best way to learn stuff is to do them. Not read up on them 

Major feature for next version is creating volumes and it should then be able to do everything truecrypt does.

project main page: http://code.google.com/p/zulucrypt/

[Just17]

Looks good    Congrats!   

[muungwana]

Looks good    Congrats!   

thanks, version 3 should allow people to completely replace truecrypt is they use their encrypted volumes only in linux.

[pmurdia]

hi,

can you please also tell the step by step procedure of installing it in PCLOS KDE 6.2011 or in PCLOS..

Thx.

[muungwana]

you can get binary pclinuxos package at: http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,98789.0.html

instructions on how to install it is there too.

[pmurdia]

Ah ty, I just go through that page!

[melodie]

Hi, I have a few stupid questions. The gui is qt. If I have qgtkstyle installed, will I get a gtk style in zulucrypt/cryptsetup ?

The other question is : if I want to crypt a file system on a USB stick how can I do it with this tool ? Should I do it from within the running system ? What if I do it from the classic system running, applied on the squashfs file and so ? (Is it a question which could have an interest, or is it definitely "from the running system on the live usb, let's say persistent mode ?)

Thanks for your patience,
Mélodie

[muungwana]

Hi, I have a few stupid questions. The gui is qt. If I have qgtkstyle installed, will I get a gtk style in zulucrypt/cryptsetup ?

what desktop environment are you using? how do i apply this style? I can check for you if you are using gnome and are asking if the app can accept different themes as selected somewhere in gnome panel.

The other question is : if I want to crypt a file system on a USB stick how can I do it with this tool ? Should I do it from within the running system ? What if I do it from the classic system running, applied on the squashfs file and so ? (Is it a question which could have an interest, or is it definitely "from the running system on the live usb, let's say persistent mode ?)

Thanks for your patience,
Mélodie

You have too many scenarios and i cant keep them straight long enough to construct a coherent response.

But let me attempt to answer you and see if i got your question(s) right.

if you want to encrypt a usb mass storage device like a thumb drive, then open the tool,menu-> "create encrypted partition" and a list of non system partitions will be shown, select the drive from the list and then double click it and another dialog box will show up and you will create the encrypted partition here.

When you want to open the volume in the drive, go to the menu->open encrypted partition and the drive will be on the list, double click it and you will be asked to enter a passphrase to open it.

You do not encrypt the file system on the disk, the disk will be formatted and all of its contents will be removed.The encrypted partition will then be created and then a new filesystem will be created inside the encrypted partition so if you want to encrypt a partition on a drive, more its  content someplace else, create the encrypted partition, open it and then more you files back. Always remember to close the volume when done to secure your belongings.

Its a program, like any other program, if you can start it up and if the system can see your usb stick and the usb stick does not have an entry in /etc/fstab or /etc/crypttab, then this tool can create an encrypted file system in it. So the tool can function as expected even when run from the live cd.

You can not encrypt a usb stick or a cd if you want to boot from it because how would the boot up process decrypt it to load the OS?

[melodie]

You can not encrypt a usb stick or a cd if you want to boot from it because how would the boot up process decrypt it to load the OS?

Thaaat's the point ! Thank you very much, and excuse my newbieness on the encryption subject! Do you think there is a right way to encrypt the personal data enclosed on a boot-able system in a usb stick ?

[muungwana]

Somebody asked this in their mailing list and this a snipped of of the discussion.

The discussion is here: http://www.saout.de/pipermail/dm-crypt/2011-November/002169.html

the answer to your question is in this response: http://www.saout.de/pipermail/dm-crypt/2011-November/002172.html

somebody in the same discussion mention grub2 saying it has capabilities to do that. You can read up on the discussion to find out more.

You can not encrypt a usb stick or a cd if you want to boot from it because how would the boot up process decrypt it to load the OS?

Thaaat's the point ! Thank you very much, and excuse my newbieness on the encryption subject! Do you think there is a right way to encrypt the personal data enclosed on a boot-able system in a usb stick ?

If you have data you want to be encrypted in a bootable disk/usb,create an encrypted file and then put your data in that file and then put the file in the bootable disk/usb.

That way, you bootup using unsecured image, when the system is up, you use cryptsetup or truecrypt or whatever tool you used to create the encrypted file to open it to access its content.

Why would you want to encrypy the OS in the usb stick in the first place?

[melodie]

I think if I have a nomadic system on a pendrive, I would like the persistent data to be encrypted. Who knows what can happen on a small USB stick ?

Therefore I was wondering if the crypt features provided by the program along with your frontend could provide such a feature.