ccrypt

Secure encryption and decryption of files and streams

This file contains instructions specific to the Windows distribution of ccrypt. Please see README and the man page for general information on usage etc.

etc:

Download the file ccrypt-XXX.cygwin-i386.zip, and unpack it with

unzip ccrypt-XXX.cygwin-i386.zip

If the "unzip" program is unavailable, then use "pkunzip" instead, but read the following note first.

NOTE: "pkunzip" is a relatively dumb program. My version of it, which came with Windows 98, does not understand long filenames, and you may have to type something of the form "pkunzip ccrypt~1.zip". Instead of creating a directory, it may decide to dump the files in the current working directory, and it may rename them. Use "unzip" instead of "pkunzip" if it is available.

If you have "tar" and "gunzip" installed, you may also get the file potrace-XXX.cygwin-i386.tar.gz instead of the zip file.

The windows distribution includes an executable file ccrypt.exe, and a dynamically linked library cygwin1.dll. You need to put both ccrypt.exe and cygwin1.dll in places where Windows can find them. One such place is C:\WINDOWS. Alternatively, you can amend your PATH environment variable, by adding something like the following line to C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT:

PATH=%PATH%;C:\DIRECTORY\WHERE\FILES\ARE

If you already have a different version of cygwin installed, you cannot use this binary unless you up/downgrade to the version of cygwin that comes with the ccrypt distribution. However, there should be no problem re-compiling ccrypt under your version of cygwin.

The default executable file is called ccrypt.exe. You should also create files ccencrypt.exe, ccdecrypt.exe, and ccat.exe in the same directory. These files are identical to ccrypt.exe, but when ccrypt is invoked by one of these filenames, its default behavior changes. Under Windows, the most fool-proof solution is to make four copies of ccrypt.exe and rename them appropriately. If you are running a shell under CygWin, you can also create a symbolic link, or you may be able to achieve the same effect by creating a shortcut under Windows.

RUNNING

For non-Windows specific usage information, see the file README.

Ccrypt on Windows runs in much the same way as under Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, due to the amazing magic of cygwin (http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/), which simulates a unix environment under Windows.

Note on wildcards: The following command line does not work as expected under Windows:

ccrypt h:\data\*.*

However, each of the following two commands will work as it should:

ccrypt h:\data\file.txt

ccrypt h:/data/*.*

I am not sure what causes this behavior. Apparently an inconsistency between backslash conversion and wildcard expansion.