Bug#780114: ITP: luckyLUKS-- GUI for creating and (un-)locking encrypted volumes from LUKS/TrueCrypt container files
Package: wnpp
Severity: wishlist
Owner: Jasper van Hoorn <muzius@gmail.com>
* Package name : luckyluks
Version : 1.0.0
Upstream Author : Jasper van Hoorn <muzius@gmail.com>
* URL : https://github.com/jas-per/luckyLUKS
* License : GPLv3+
Programming Lang: Python
Description : GUI for creating and (un-)locking encrypted volumes from
LUKS/TrueCrypt container files
At the moment there is no graphical interface for using encrypted
LUKS/TrueCrypt container files in Debian. On the one hand there are licencing
issues with original TrueCrypt application and its successors. On the other the
need for elevated privileges s to handle such containers makes developing such
an interface not straightforward. The only other graphical application that I
am aware of called ZuluCrypt was unfortunately not accepted into Debian because
it uses setuid [1].
luckyLUKS aims to fill this gap by providing an easy to use interface:
- Create LUKS[2] or TrueCrypt[3] containers
- Unlock/Close existing containers
- Systray icon as a reminder to close them eventually
- Create freedesktop start menu entries as shortcuts
- Mounting works with or without running udisks daemon
Encrypted containers have some advantages compared to the much better supported
encrypted partitions (especially for casual computer users):
- No need to deal with partition table wizardry when creating an encrypted
container, just creating a file on an (internal or external) harddrive/usbstick
etc
- Backup is straightforward, just copy the file somewhere else
- Allows adding some encrypted private data to an unencrypted external
harddrive you want to share with friends or take with you while travelling
- Lots of users are already quite familiar with all this, because their first
touch with data encryption has been TrueCrypt which uses the encrypted
container approach
All tasks that require elevated privileges are executed from a seperate child
process. Sudo is used to handle this combined with strict checks on ipc
commands - reviews welcome! I developed the application to support some friends
that are not too keen on using the command line, it has been tested for a while
and is probably ready for general use by now. I have the application in a
Launchpad PPA at the moment and think I'll be able to maintain the Debian
package myself - will now start looking for a sponsor to help with that. More
information including a FAQ and a little screencast on the homepage.
Cheers,
Jasper
[1] https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=703911
[2] with cryptsetup: https://code.google.com/p/cryptsetup/
[3] with tcplay: https://github.com/bwalex/tc-play
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