cli-tarHow do I use tar and gzip to password protect a file?

Using tar and gzip to password protect a file is a two-step process. First, the file needs to be compressed and then encrypted.

1. Compress the file with gzip:

gzip -c <filename> > <filename>.gz

2. Encrypt the compressed file with tar:

tar -czf - <filename>.gz | openssl des3 -salt -k <password> > <filename>.tar.gz

• gzip -c <filename> > <filename>.gz: This command compresses the file with gzip and creates a .gz file.
• tar -czf - <filename>.gz: This command combines the compressed file with tar and creates a .tar.gz file.
• openssl des3 -salt -k <password>: This command encrypts the file with a password.

The resulting file will be <filename>.tar.gz and it will be password protected.

Helpful links

• Gzip Manual
• Tar Manual
• OpenSSL Manual

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