> Encrypted filenames would add more privacy to the archive by
> preventing access to the file attributes, not only the data.
That's true.
A quick Web search found this suggestion in the WinZip Knowledgebase: http://kb.winzip.com/kb/entry/147/
Essentially, that suggestion is to create a Zip archive without any
encryption, and then to encrypt that archive using Zip a second time.
GnuPG or any other encryption program could be used on that first Zip
archive, but using Zip twice means that only one program (UnZip) would
be needed to extract the data. Obviously, it's not an ideal solution.
The PKWARE APPNOTE: http://www.pkware.com/documents/casestudies/APPNOTE.TXT
describes a method for encrypting the Zip Central Directory (and masking
particular values, like file names, in the Local Headers. It was not
immediately clear to me whether this technology is encumbered by a
PKWARE "Strong Encryption" patent. Assuming that we could get a free
license for any patented technology, implementing Central Directory
encryption looks to me like a rather big job, and our development pace
these days is pretty slow, so, if you're waiting for us volunteers to
add such a feature, then you may be waiting for a long time. As usual,
if anyone wants to contribute any actual code, then we'd be happy to
look at it.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
> Encrypted filenames would add more privacy to the archive by
> preventing access to the file attributes, not only the data.
That's true.
A quick Web search found this suggestion in the WinZip Knowledgebase:
http://kb.winzip.com/kb/entry/147/
Essentially, that suggestion is to create a Zip archive without any
encryption, and then to encrypt that archive using Zip a second time.
GnuPG or any other encryption program could be used on that first Zip
archive, but using Zip twice means that only one program (UnZip) would
be needed to extract the data. Obviously, it's not an ideal solution.
The PKWARE APPNOTE:
http://www.pkware.com/documents/casestudies/APPNOTE.TXT
describes a method for encrypting the Zip Central Directory (and masking
particular values, like file names, in the Local Headers. It was not
immediately clear to me whether this technology is encumbered by a
PKWARE "Strong Encryption" patent. Assuming that we could get a free
license for any patented technology, implementing Central Directory
encryption looks to me like a rather big job, and our development pace
these days is pretty slow, so, if you're waiting for us volunteers to
add such a feature, then you may be waiting for a long time. As usual,
if anyone wants to contribute any actual code, then we'd be happy to
look at it.