cmd/age-plugin-batchpass: add detailed warning

This commit is contained in:
Filippo Valsorda
2025-12-24 12:09:48 +01:00
parent f1cc23a3f6
commit db8ed63595

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@@ -17,14 +17,50 @@ import (
const usage = `age-plugin-batchpass is an age plugin that enables non-interactive
passphrase-based encryption and decryption using environment variables.
It is not built into the age CLI because most applications should use
native keys instead of scripting passphrase-based encryption.
WARNING:
This functionality is not built into the age CLI because most applications
should use native keys instead of scripting passphrase-based encryption.
Humans are notoriously bad at remembering and generating strong passphrases.
age uses scrypt to partially mitigate this, which is necessarily very slow.
If a computer will be doing the remembering anyway, you can and should use
native keys instead. There is no need to manage separate public and private
keys, you encrypt directly to the private key:
$ age-keygen -o key.txt
$ age -e -i key.txt file.txt > file.txt.age
$ age -d -i key.txt file.txt.age > file.txt
Likewise, you can store a native identity string in an environment variable
or through your CI secrets manager and use it to encrypt and decrypt files
non-interactively:
$ export AGE_SECRET=$(age-keygen)
$ age -e -i <(echo "$AGE_SECRET") file.txt > file.txt.age
$ age -d -i <(echo "$AGE_SECRET") file.txt.age > file.txt
The age CLI also natively supports passphrase-encrypted identity files, so you
can use that functionality to non-interactively encrypt multiple files such that
you will be able to decrypt them later by entering the same passphrase:
$ age-keygen -pq | age -p -o encrypted-identity.txt
Public key: age1pq1cd[... 1950 more characters ...]
Enter passphrase (leave empty to autogenerate a secure one):
age: using autogenerated passphrase "eternal-erase-keen-suffer-fog-exclude-huge-scorpion-escape-scrub"
$ age -r age1pq1cd[... 1950 more characters ...] file.txt > file.txt.age
$ age -d -i encrypted-identity.txt file.txt.age > file.txt
Enter passphrase for identity file "encrypted-identity.txt":
Finally, when using this plugin care should be taken not to let the password be
persisted in the shell history or leaked to other users on multi-user systems.
Usage:
AGE_PASSPHRASE=password age -e -j batchpass file.txt > file.txt.age
$ AGE_PASSPHRASE=password age -e -j batchpass file.txt > file.txt.age
AGE_PASSPHRASE=password age -d -j batchpass file.txt.age > file.txt
$ AGE_PASSPHRASE=password age -d -j batchpass file.txt.age > file.txt
Alternatively, you can use AGE_PASSPHRASE_FD to read the passphrase from
a file descriptor. Trailing newlines are stripped from the file contents.