this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I'm guessing, they did it this way, because there's no persistent process to keep the decrypted files open. You'd need to ask the user for the password for every single command they run. With GPG, that persistent process is
gpg-agent
.Of course, encryption with a GPG key is also going to be more secure than the longest password you can come up with.
I guess, many people will want access to GPG, too, if they want access to their passwords, so they're not bothered by it.
But yeah, I do also remember setting that up on Android, where you need a separate app to do the GPG, and it really stops feeling simple pretty quickly...