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HOWTO: Putting cryptoloop back in Debian

Update 2010-11-20: It has been pointed out to me that dm-crypt can handle cryptoloop volumes. Thus, you may choose to ignore this HOWTO in favor of one on how to do that.

For reasons detailed in Debian Bug #559961 the cryptoloop module has been dropped from the Debian kernel as of the 2.6.32-trunk binary packages. I've filed a complaint at that bug. I know what I'm doing, and am unhappy that the Debian kernel maintainers have taken it upon themselves to gratuitously delete functionality from the Linux kernel image…

In the meantime, here's how you put cryptoloop back.

  • Install the linux-source-2.6.xx package, where xx is your kernel version. You'll need to have the kernel headers somewhere where the makefile can find them; if you have troubles try installing linux-headers-2.6.xx as well.
  • Make a /usr/src/cryptoloop directory.
  • Put a copy of cryptoloop.c from /usr/src/linux-source-2.6.32/drivers/block/ (yes, it's still there) in your new cryptoloop directory.
  • Go to the cryptoloop directory and create the following Makefile:
    obj-m := cryptoloop.o
    
all:  
	make -C /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build M=$(PWD) modules  

clean:
	make -C /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build M=$(PWD) clean
    (Be careful that those tabs at the beginning of the make lines are hard.)
  • Say "make all".
  • As root, say:
    cp cryptoloop.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/block/
depmod -a
modprobe cryptoloop

If all goes well, you should be cryptolooping again. Remember that until Debian is (hopefully) fixed you will have to rebuild cryptoloop.ko whenever you upgrade your kernel. The cryptoloop.c source is unlikely to change, but you might want to check first.

Have fun. Friend of Bart

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Thanks, and some suggestion to others

Thank you really much, you saved me at least a half day of sucking with this. One remark to the other DEBIAN users: you have to install the following packages:

apt-get install linux-source-2.6.32 linux-headers-2.6.32-5-common linux-kbuild-2.6.32 linux-headers-2.6.32-5-amd64 cd /usr/src tar jxvf linux-source-2.6.32.tar.bz2

This applies to amd64 arch, if you have other, you have to change obviously the apt-get line.

After this, you can proceed with the described method.

  • By Anonymous at 2011-08-11 04:26
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Thanks for the list!

Yeah, that looks about right. I would suggest installing

  • linux-source
  • linux-headers-amd64

That way, the packages will track changes in Linux kernel version. The other packages you list will be automatically installed by apt to meet the dependencies of these.

Thanks!

I was not able to do this with the "supported" method with dm-crypt.
So this helped me a lot!

Thanks

  • By Anonymous at 2011-04-11 07:03
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I did have to google up on

I did have to google up on the fact i had to install the kernel-headers aswell (a simple addon could fix this search for other less-experianced users). Other then that, this worked perfectly! .. thanks alot m8!

  • By Anonymous at 2011-02-17 04:29
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Glad to be of help!

Fixed the insns as you suggested; thanks. As noted, I'm using dm-crypt instead now. It's not as nice in some ways, but it beats the alternatives of ditching Debian or constantly remembering to reinstall cryptoloop. Sigh.

The most annoying part of this is that it adds absolutely no security whatsoever. Friend of Bart

thanks

simple and perfect, thank you

  • By Anonymous at 2010-10-20 02:33
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Glad it was useful for you...

Friend of Bart

not working on current debian version

Hi,

I tried to follow your route to create the cryptoloop.ko file, but I cannot compile it, cause of a missing Makefile.

I got the error:

/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.32-3-common/scripts/Makefile.build:44: /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.32-3-common/scripts/basic/Makefile: file not found

and there is no MAKEFILE in this directory. there are just 2 files: ==> docproc fixdep

Any idea whats went wrong?

thx for helping

  • By Anonymous at 2010-04-21 02:01
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Something weird.

Retested just now and it works for me, so something is weird with your setup or install. Sorry I don't have any great idea offhand. Friend of Bart

Thanks!

Thanks a lot!

It really is incredible that they would deactivate this without a warning. I'm not a power user, so I didn't even know how to get read access to my volume anymore!

I mean, I'm okay for switching, but I need to access the previous system for that...

By the way, in the line "cp cryptoloop.ko /lib/modules/uname-r/kernel/drivers/block/", you forgot a space between "uname" and "-r".

Have a nice day!

  • By Anonymous at 2010-04-20 14:40
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Fixed the typo, thanks

Thanks much for the kind words. I fixed the typo you noted—looks like a copy-paste error. Friend of Bart

Thanks

Although I'm using dm-crypt, I still do need cryptoloop, too. I have many cryptoloop encrypted media (DVDs).

  • By Anonymous at 2010-01-22 15:08
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Just reburn them all LOL

Sorry I missed your comment a while back. Yeah, I'm not sure what folks with cryptolooped non-rewritable media are supposed to do. I have some too. Friend of Bart