bcfg2-crypt

Synopsis

bcfg2-crypt [-C configfile] [–decrypt|–encrypt] [–cfg|–properties] [–stdout] [–remove] [–xpath xpath] [-p passphrase-or-name] [-v] [-I] filename [filename...]

Description

bcfg2-crypt performs encryption and decryption of Cfg and Properties files. It’s often sufficient to run bcfg2-crypt with only the name of the file you wish to encrypt or decrypt; it can usually figure out what to do.

Options

-C configfile	Specify alternate bcfg2.conf location.
--decrypt, --encrypt
	Select encryption or decryption mode for the given file(s). This is usually unnecessary, as bcfg2-crypt can often determine which is necessary based on the contents of each file.
--cfg	An XML file should be encrypted in its entirety rather than element-by-element. This is only necessary if the file is an XML file whose name ends with .xml and whose top-level tag is <Properties>. See [MODES] below for details.
--properties	Process a file as an XML Properties file, and encrypt the text of each element separately. This is necessary if, for example, you’ve used a different top-level tag than Properties in your Properties files. See [MODES] below for details.
--stdout	Print the resulting file to stdout instead of writing it to a file.
--remove	Remove the plaintext file after it has been encrypted. Only meaningful for Cfg files.
--xpath xpath	Encrypt the character content of all elements that match the specified XPath expression. The default is *[@encrypted] or *; see [MODES] below for more details. Only meaningful for Properties files.
-p passphrase	Specify the name of a passphrase specified in the [encryption] section of bcfg2.conf. See [SELECTING PASSPHRASE] below for more details.
-v	Be verbose.
-I	When encrypting a Properties file, interactively select the elements whose data should be encrypted.
-h	Print usage information.

Modes

bcfg2-crypt can encrypt Cfg files or Properties files; they are handled very differently.

Cfg

When bcfg2-crypt is used on a Cfg file, the entire file is encrypted. This is the default behavior on files that are not XML, or that are XML but whose top-level tag is not <Properties>. This can be enforced by use of the –cfg option.

Properties

When bcfg2-crypt is used on a Properties file, it encrypts the character content of elements matching the XPath expression given by –xpath. By default the expression is *[@encrypted], which matches all elements with an encrypted attribute. If you are encrypting a file and that expression doesn’t match any elements, then the default is *, which matches everything. When bcfg2-crypt encrypts the character content of an element, it also adds the encrypted attribute, set to the name of the passphrase used to encrypt that element. When it decrypts an element it does not remove encrypted, though; this lets you easily and efficiently run bcfg2-crypt against a single Properties file to encrypt and decrypt it without needing to specify a long list of options. See the online Bcfg2 docs on Properties files for more information on how this works.

Selecting passphrase

The passphrase used to encrypt or decrypt a file is discovered in the following order.

1. The passphrase given on the command line using -p is used.
2. If exactly one passphrase is specified in bcfg2.conf, it will be used.
3. If operating in Properties mode, bcfg2.conf will attempt to read the name of the passphrase from the encrypted elements.
4. If decrypting, all passphrases will be tried sequentially.
5. If no passphrase has been determined at this point, an error is produced and the file being encrypted or decrypted is skipped.

See Also

bcfg2-server(8)