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Update project status in README (#671)

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# EncFS - an Encrypted Filesystem
_Build Status_
- Travis: [![Travis CI](https://travis-ci.org/vgough/encfs.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/vgough/encfs)
- Cirrus: [![Cirrus CI](https://api.cirrus-ci.com/github/vgough/encfs.svg?branch=master)](https://cirrus-ci.com/github/vgough/encfs)
**This project is NOT maintained. For details, see the [Status](#status) section.**
## About
EncFS provides an encrypted filesystem in user-space. It runs in userspace,
using the FUSE library for the filesystem interface. EncFS is open source
using the [FUSE library](https://github.com/libfuse/libfuse) for the filesystem interface. EncFS is open source
software, licensed under the LGPL.
EncFS is now over 15 years old (first release in 2003). It was written because
older NFS and kernel-based encrypted filesystems such as CFS had not kept pace with Linux
EncFS was first released in 2003, making it one of the earlier FUSE filesystems!
I wrote it because I needed to encrypt my data while traveling, and the existing NFS and
kernel-based encrypted filesystems such as CFS had not kept pace with Linux
development. When FUSE became available, I wrote a CFS replacement for my own
use and released the first version to Open Source in 2003.
use and later released it to Open Source when it seemed stable.
EncFS encrypts individual files, by translating all requests for the virtual
EncFS filesystem into the equivalent encrypted operations on the raw
@ -21,23 +20,35 @@ filesystem.
For more info, see:
- The excellent [encfs manpage](encfs/encfs.pod)
- The [encfs manpage](encfs/encfs.pod)
- The technical overview in [DESIGN.md](DESIGN.md)
## Status
Over the last 15 years, a number of good alternatives have grown up. Computing
power has increased to the point where it is reasonable to encrypt the entire
filesystem of personal computers (and even mobile phones!). On Linux, ecryptfs
provides a nice dynamically mountable encrypted home directory, and is well
integrated in distributions I use, such as Ubuntu.
In the time since EncFS was written, a lot has changed in the security,
privacy, and computing landscapes. Computing power has increased enormously over
what a circa-2003 laptop can provide, and so it is no longer a performance burden
to encrypt the entire filesystem of a personal device. Software encryption has also
spread widely - data encryption is built into most systems and programs, so there is
far less of a need to have a separate encryption system.
EncFS has been dormant for a while. I've started cleaning up in order to try
and provide a better base for a version 2, but whether EncFS flowers again
depends upon community interest. In order to make it easier for anyone to
contribute, it is moving a new home on GitHub (2014). Since then project has
been updated a few times thanks to several contributors, so if you're
interested in EncFS, please dive in!
EncFS has been dormant for a long time now. I haven't used or worked on EncFS in
many years. I've left the repository here because I don't want to prevent anyone
from using it if they have a need that can't be met otherwise. I'm sure that I have
some very old backups that would still require EncFS to access, so I expect that I
might have to compile it again someday.
Don't expect any updates on this project. You're free to fork it, of course, but
remember that this is a 20+yr old codebase which was only funded by personal
interest, so I wouldn't expect it to live up to modern-day coding standards.
If you're considering setting up a new encrypted filesystem wrapper, I'd recommend
looking into newer alternatives, such as the excellent [GoCryptFS](https://github.com/rfjakob/gocryptfs).
Thank you all for the early support, especially the FUSE author Miklos Szeredi,
and all the interesting discussions at Open Source and Linux meetups over the years.
Valient Gough
May 2024
## Unique Features
@ -76,10 +87,6 @@ work, some of which may be back-ported to the master branch when it is stable. T
dev branch is not stable, and there is no guarantee of backward compatibility
between changes.
## Donations
How about a nice email instead?
## Windows
EncFS works on Cygwin, there are also some Windows ports.