Siu Lun

Introduction

I was tweaking with the development process today at work by incorporating SVN and trac. SVN allows me to version control the web development while trac allows me to set goals and specification to the project as well as provide a user guide wiki to end users.

As I was doing so, I remember back in my old post I wrote something about building a program to syncronise documents such as bookmarks across different OSes and computers which would work on a memory stick, then I also remember seeing a post somewhere, where someone used CVS to keep their documents, which’ll allow for version control as well as universal access via CVS (so basically any computer that has access to the internet) while using PGP to encrypt those files in order to keep any sensitive data secure.

Obviously it’s not anything new, but it’s not very well known either – amougst those who’re not as up-to-date as your best news source. So I’ll write something about it here in the hopes that people would find it a useful way to keep track and keep control of their eletronic documents while having the most portability and security.

prerequisite

You’ll need
A PGP file encryption software – such as GNUPG
A Subversion(SVN)/CVS server – SVN is recommended as it is built above CVS

What To Do

Follow the instructions of your chosen software.
Once installed
familiarize yourself with how to encrypt & decrypt a file
familiarize yourself with how to make a repository to upload/download from your CVS/SVN server

Once you know how to do the above, the rest is really self-explantory, you encrypt a file you’d like to make accessible and secure, then commit the file to your CVS/SVN server. Whenever you need access to that file, just log into your repository (hopefully you’ve made it accessible by username & password on the web!) download it to your current location, and decrypt the file using your PGP key, and viola.

Tips

• Keep your PGP key on your USB drive keyring or “E-Key” – eletronic key to unlock your life
• Keep your repository data(not the files in your repository but the config files) on your USB drive keyring – so that you can access your repository using a CVS/SVN software instead of logging on the web if it isn’t avaliable.
• Password protect your CVS/SVN repository – while your files would be encrypted, it’s still better to password protect the repository so that even if someone got hold of your “E-Key” or manage to steal your PGP key, they can’t decrypt anything without knowing your username and password for your repository

Problems you may encounter

Q: Everything in your link seems to be in Linux/Unix? – Does it work on Windows?
A: GNUPG has a windows implementation while there is a tool called CVSNT that allows CVS on Windows, Subversion has their own pre-compiled binaries for Windows avaliable at their site.

Q: How do I get a Subversion/CVS server?
A: You can either setup a computer – like a HTPC that is connected to the net all the time as a server by finding tutorials on the net on how to setup SVN/CVS on your computer, or you can find a web host that would allow you to setup a SVN/CVS server. For normal users – those who don’t deal with web design and don’t need a web host – I would suggest you to use a low power computer – such as an HTPC as a server. note# you ought to have broadband