Ubuntu
ubuntuone-client package

Encrypting Ubuntu One using ecryptfs

Asked by vlc

I would like to backup some files in Ubuntu One, but only encrypted using ecryptfs. My idea is to backup the directory ~/.Private in ~/Ubuntu One.

I already tried to link (ln -s) or bind (mount --bind) ~/.Private in ~/Ubuntu One or even replace one directory with the other using ln -s or mount --bind, but the files are not synchronized correctly. In Nautilus, all is marked as synchronized, but the files do not appear in Ubuntu One's web page - other files or directories, which I manually copied into ~/Ubuntu One, do.

Has anybody already used Ubuntu One with ecryptfs? Any hints are welcome.

Thanks a lot in advance!

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Soul-Sing (soulzing) said : 		#1

afaik .Private is encrypted to ~/.Private by logout, and decrypted by login: username/ and password again in .Private
this process isn't recognized by ubuntu-one, only afterwards after decryption.
it can be done with an encrypted directory and ecryptfs with a unique name as mentioned here: http://bodhizazen.net/Tutorials/Ecryptfs/

i hope this is helpful

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vlc (vlc) said : 		#2

Do you mean the the example where the encrypted and the decrypted directory are the same? This would not help me as I see the decrypted files when I'm logged on and Ubuntu One would then of course backup the plain text documents.

Whatsoever, the approach described in my first post works with Dropbox, when I create a symbolic link to the ~/.Private directory in ~/Dropbox/Private. Dropbox recognizes changes in the ~./Private directory, Ubuntu One unfortunately not :-(

As I haven't figured out yet how to solve this issue with Ubuntu One, I will use Dropbox for the moment.

Thank a lot nevertheless!

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papukaija (papukaija) said : 		#3

Why not use an encrypted /home folder (possible since Karmic; http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2009/10/linux-magazine-ubuntu-encrypted-home.html ) ?

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vlc (vlc) said : 		#4

How would an encrypted /home help? The encrypted directory must be inside the "~/Ubuntu One" directory to allow Ubuntu One to detect any modifications. But "~/Ubuntu One" is itself part of my home directory.

Sorry, but I don't understand your proposal.

Can you help with this problem?

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