Naeon Files

April 2022

v1.2 - 2022-04-02

Added

• Option -d (or --description) to pass a project description as a command line argument. Convenient in case of execution in unattended mode.
• Option -i (or --info) to display relevant info on naeon and its current settings.
• Option -q (or --query) to display all projects currently in the naeon project directory.
• Option -v (or --version) to display current Naeon version.
• Extra parameter in naeon.conf, if set to yes the project description will also (apart from in XML) be stored in a text file in the private directory.
• Remove forward slash at the end of input parameter, so file completion will also work when used.
• SHA512SUMS of all project files.
• faq.md with Frequently Asked Questions.
• In restore mode, the name(s) of the selected Naeon project(s) are displayed.
• A temporary directory can now be set in naeon.conf (default = /tmp).
• At program start, check existence of temp directory and exit in case not existing.
• At program start, check if temp directory is writable. If not, exit the program.
• Additional checks on passing conflicting command line arguments in restore mode.
• Extra comments where needed to make the code better readable.

Changed

• Moved compressed restores to: project dir/project ID-restored/project ID-compressed
• Moved decompressed restores to: project dir/project ID-restored/project ID-decompressed
• Moved the creation of temporary directories from working directory to /tmp.
• Moved the creation of temporary files from working directory to /tmp.
• Changed name of temporary files from "_tempfilelist#.txt" to "naeon_tmp#".
• Added a 12-char random alphanumeric string to temp filenames in order to avoid being overwritten in case of multiple instances of naeon.
• Removal of temporary files as soon as they are not needed anymore, instead of during the cleanup procedure at program end.
• Renamed "Working directory" to "Naeon directory".
• Moved initialization of configuration file to main code block.
• Moved help text (invoked by option -hor --help) from external text file "USAGE.md" to naeon help function in program itself.
• Improved preliminary check on existence of submitted project id(s) (restore mode).
• Updated help text.
• Moved all functions to one codeblock (Main).
• Moved reading, sanatization and validation of configuration settings from backup to main codeblock.
• In case the number of parts the Private Chunk is to be split into, is invalid (as set in naeon.conf), now defaulting to "1" instead of exiting.
• Tidying up code.
• Replaced 'naeon' with 'Naeon'.
• Old program logo replaced by (a Unicode representation of) the official new logo as used on the website.
• In restore mode, it is no longer required to submit project IDs starting with "naeon-". With or without, it is both okay and will be handled correctly.

Fixed

• When help text was longer than one page, the per-page view skipped displaying the naeon logo and version number.
• When a naeon (working) directory was set in naeon.conf, naeon didn't look there when in restore mode.
• Restore mode didn't accept more than one project ID as an argument.
• In restore mode, wildcard didn't work when executed from project directory (took first project only).
• In restore mode, in case of a private and/or public chunk (hash) mismatch, temporary directories were emptied but not deleted after program exit.
• 'awk: illegal option' on MacOS systems.
• 'split: illegal option' on MacOS systems.
• 'tr: Illegal byte sequence' on MacOS systems.
• When naeon was started using unsupported option, program exited without cleaning up temporary files.
• When naeon was started in restore mode but no project IDs were found, temporary files were not removed.
• When prerequisites were not met, temporary files were not removed.

Removed

• USAGE.md.
• Redundant code.

March 2022

v1.1 - 2022-03-12

Added

• In backup mode, a textfile is generated with a summary of all parts of the compressed private folder and their SHA512 checksums.
• In backup mode, a textfile is generated which displays the naeon version used.
• Help text displays current version number.
• Help text is displayed one page at a time.

Changed

• Names of splitted up tarballs in private directory, now ending with '.tar.gz' instead of their part numbers.
• Increased maximum number of parts the private folder could be split up into, from 100 to 999 (see 'SPLIT_PRIVATE_FOLDER_INTO_PARTS' in naeon.conf).
• Help text shortened.

Fixed

• When minimum file size isn't met and backup is cancelled, the project directory wasn't removed entirely.
• When executed with option -h temporary files weren't removed.

November 2021

v1.0.4 - 2021-11-28

Added

• Option in configuration file to split the private folder into n parts in order to be able to spread it over multiple locations.
• Option in configuration file to disable the creation of uuencoded versions of Master Key XML and private chunk (naeon's paper wallet).

Fixed

• When the restore path contained one or more spaces, this resulted in a warning. Solved by fixing the restore function.

July 2021

v1.0.3 - 2021-07-04

Changed

• Updated help text.

Fixed

• Backup mode: help parameter opened the wrong text (README.md instead of USAGE.md).

April 2021

v1.0.2 - 2021-04-25

Added

• Function "dotted_timer" showing process indicator.
• Backup mode: now creating a list of Public Chunks, saved in the private directory under the name 'naeon-yyyymmddhhmmss-PublicChunks.txt'.
• Backup mode: gzip compression is now started as a background process.
• Backup mode: added a progress indicator "......." during gzip compression, with a dot interval of 2 seconds.
• Backup mode: added a progress indicator "......." during the creation of the Master Key XML: one dot per 100 lines.

Changed

• Moved cleanup function from backup- and restore code block to main code block.
• Some minor improvements in the layout of the console output.

March 2021

v1.0.1 - 2021-03-06

Added

• In backup mode, after adding append block, check if the size of prepend, data, and append block add up to the reported total size.
• Check if all public chunks are similar in size. If the unlikely case this happens (usually with very big archives), exit the program.
• Notification of successful decryption.

Changed

• Default self-destruct timestamp (when not set in naeon.conf) from 99990101010101 to 99991231235959.

February 2021

v1.0 - 2021-02-20

Added

• Check on the version of tar: this should be 'GNU tar' as bsdtar (standard on macOS nowadays) displays unwanted behaviour when used icw relative pathnames.
• GNU tar to the list of prerequisites.
• Extra information in the explanatory text describing the proceedings after a backup has been made.
• Better reporting in restore mode - now mentioning removing prepend and append block.
• Function check_datestring checks validity of Embargo Timestamp and Selfdestruct Timestamp in naeon.conf.
• If no Embargo Timestamp and Selfdestruct Timestamp are set in naeon.conf, they will be set to their defaults of 20200101000000 and 99990101000000 respectively.
• Check if Embargo Timestamp precedes Selfdestruct Timestamp and if not, exit.

Changed

• Text "Found:" into "Selected:" since it concerns submitted project IDs, which does not necessarily mean valid (read: found) ones.
• Tidied up code, changelog.
• Moved the tag <Naeon_version> to the top of the Master Key XML.

v0.9 - 2021-02-09

Added

• Restore mode: use of wildcards (f.e.: naeon --restore naeon-2021* or naeon --restore 20210202153948 20210202180839 20210202191220 -u -n).
• Backup mode: now reporting "Creating compressed archive" when the tarball is being built. Since this can take some time, user might otherwise wonder what's happening.
• Restore mode: clean exit with error message in case an invalid key was used for decryption (should normally never happen with the right, non-corrupted Master Key XML).
• Restore mode: now reporting "Processing naeon project .. of .." for each project (to be) restored.
• Clean exit with error message in case encryption of the input file failed.
• Option '--batch' added to the encryption command since gpg requires it when used in combination with the '--passphrase' option.
• All fatal errors now marked in red for better visual distinction between fatal errors and standard output.
• At the start of the program in restore mode, naeon now displays "Found: " followed by the selected project ID(s).

Changed

• Restore mode: better, more informative error message in case the hash of private and/or public chunks do not match those in the XML.
• Passphrase 128 characters alphameric.
• Renamed the tag <Key> in the Master Key XML to <Passphrase> which is what it in fact is: a passphrase used by the gpg command to generate the 256bit key.
• Due to the renaming of the <Key> tag in the Master Key XML, the restore mode in this version is not backwards compatible with prior versions.
• Moved major part of initializing block to before the preliminary checks.
• Moved the passphrase tag in the Master Key XML to just after the <Encryption_command> tag.
• The encryption key (passphrase) is no longer (temporarily) saved to disk, but (temporarily) kept in memory instead, and immediately cleared after use.

Fixed

• Restore mode: now skipping submitted non-existing project IDs, instead of exiting the program.
• Restore mode: when restoring more than one project ID, the naenon header is now shown only once.
• Restore mode: instead of crashing, naeon now skips to the next project ID in case a submitted project ID is missing directories and/or required files.
• Backup mode: "Creating compressed archive" was displayed one time too many.
• Created more consistency in the (position of) displayed messages in batch restore mode.
• Restore mode: improved error handling in cases where private and/or public chunks are missing, checksums do not match, or decryption was unsuccessful.
• Program exited unintentionally in restore mode when using the --unattended option.

Removed

• Command 'file' from prerequisites. On systems where it is not installed, the validity check on plaintext file lists is skipped when backing up with parameter '--list'.

v0.8 - 2021-02-02

Added

• Error log in backup mode, saved in the private directory under the name 'naeon-yyyymmddhhmmss-ErrorLog.txt'.
• Encryption program version to the Master Key XML.
• Restore mode now accepts input parameter, being the naeon project ID (yyyymmddhhmmss) with or without prefix 'neon-'. No parameter needed in case one project exists.
• libseccomp to requirements. In restore mode, the command 'file' (part of libseccomp) is needed in order to determine the file type of input file lists.
• Version numbers of required software packages.

Changed

• Renamed directories for compressed and decompressed (restored) data to their more logical names 'naeon-<yyyymmddhhmmss>-(de)compressed'.
• Variable name "NO_DECOMPRESS" into "DECOMPRESS".
• Options '--file' and '--dir' merged into '--backup'.
• Renamed folders to: naeon-<yyyymmddhhmmss>-decompressed, -compressed, -private, -public.
• In Error Log, ignore tar messages 'tar: Removing leading '/' from member names'.
• In restore mode, forward slashes removed from input parameter, so file completion will also work (when input parameter ends with a forward slash).
• In restore mode, the integrity check now displays a file counter instead of the hashes. Only in case of errors, the hash of the file in question will be displayed.
• 'tail -c' and 'head -c' replaced by 'tail --bytes' and 'head --bytes' for reasons of portability.
• In backup mode '--list', error message adjusted when input file doesn't pass the plaintext check.
• Moved the declaration of required software packages from backup and restore blocks to init block.

Fixed

• Removed rendundant message "Restored decompressed data are stored in" as this was already mentioned 3 lines before.
• Wildcards can now be used in all modes (Tim vd A).
• Some sort of non posix compliancy caused 'echo' icw the '-ne' parameter not to be working on macOS systems. Switched to printf in these instances.

January 2021

v0.7 - 2021-01-25

Added

• Support for wildcards on command line (options --file, --dir).
• Relative pathnames for files, directories, and file list now supported.
• Clean exit with status 1 when no input parameters are supplied.
• After backup, a list of files is now kept in the private directory, named 'naeon_filelist_<yyyymmddhhmmss>.txt'.

Changed

• In backup mode, creation of temporary directory moved from 'Generating encrytpion key' to 'Files & directories'.
• Files, directories and file lists should now be entered between double quotes.
• Moved private, public, and restored directory into a new 'project' directory, named 'naeon-<yyyymmddhhmmss>'.
• Naeon file list in public directory contains a detailed listing of all files in archive, with timestamp of files and their sizes.

Fixed

• Failed to backup a file which contains spaces in the name in 'backup from file' mode.
• Sending tar message 'Removing leading '/' from member names' to /dev/null since restores are done in a separate directory anyway.
• Temporary tar files were not stored in the temporary directory.
• Help texts updated.
• On macOS systems, the tar command doesn't allow to create a new tarball with the -uvf option.
• In backup mode, when minimum file size was reached, program exited without removing empty private and public directories.
• Now performing a check on empty private / public directories in restore mode.
• When option '--no_decompress' was chosen and therefore no restored directory was created, "Restored data are stored in ..." was displayed.

v0.6 - 2021-01-21

Added

• Check on unsupported input fags / arguments in parsing routine.
• All output goes to the working directory (by default this is the current directory).
• Working directory can be set in the configuration file.
• Error handling routine for non-successful creation of directories.
• New: '--list' for backup from plaintext file containing a file list: one file per line, with full pathname, no wildcards.
• Check on use of relative pathnames (tar doesn't like them when restoring, for security reasons).

Changed

• In restore mode, no creation of directory 'restored-##########' if it already exists.
• In restore mode, when option '--keep' is chosen, compressed archive is stored in the 'restored-##########' instead of current directory.
• Program directory and working directory can now be two different directories.
• Updated help text both in program and in README.md.
• Renamed some variables to more logical names.
• Creation of restore directory moved to preliminary checks.
• In attended restore mode, create temporary & restore directory only after user confirms the start of the process.
• Compacted output to the screen as much as possible, to improve readability and reduce clutter.

Fixed

• Wrong use of boolean in cleaning up compressed archive routine.
• Now checking on conflicting input parameters.
• Crashed when run from a pathname containing one or more spaces.

Removed

• Redundant check on zero input arguments, as the new parsing routine takes care of that as well.

v0.5 - 2021-01-18

Added

• Removal of compressed archive after successful backup, except when option -k is chosen.
• Removal of compressed archive after successful restore, except when option -k is chosen AND/OR DECOMPRESS_ON_RESTORE is set to no.
• Input argument '-k' or '--keep' to keep the compressed archive after backup or restore.
• Function 'show_usage' in init mode, called when no valid arguments were specified.

Changed

• Improved, less cryptic, error message on unsuccessful attempt to create compressed archive.
• Moved startup message 'Starting naeon in .. mode' to the end of intro text.
• After restore, setting the (UTC) timestamp of the backup instead of that of input file.
• Moved from configuration file to input argument: unattended mode, no decompress on restore.
• Argument parsing routine simplified.

Fixed

• Backup using wildcards.
• Suppress tar " Removing leading '/' " warnings in backup mode.
• Error message 'gpg: invalid option' when generated key started with '-'.
• On several occasions where the program exited with exit code 1, the compressed archive wasn't cleaned up.
• User input from configuration file sanitized in order to avoid non-alphanumeric characters pass through to the Master_Key.xml file.

Removed

• Inputfile timestamp variable, as the inputfile is no longer necessarily a single file but can also be a directory or group of files.
• Tag <Inputfile_timestamp> from Master_Key.XML.
• Input parameter check at the start of the backup mode, as it is done at a later moment.
• Redundant / commented out code blocks.

v0.4 - 2021-01-16

Added

• Explanatory texts in configuration file to clarify environment variables.
• MANIFEST.md.
• Argument parsing routine rewritten in order to support long options or mixing options and positional arguments together.
• Argument to display help text (-h, --help).
• Backup mode no more limited to one file. Instead, directories are now also valid as inputs. No wildcards yet.
• In backup mode, the input file(s) will be tarballed-gzipped before being encrypted.
• Option in configuration file to decompress the compressed archive after restore (no/yes, default no).

Changed

• Converted plaintext files to Markdown format.
• Backup mode is now invoked by using an input argument (-b or --backup) before the filename(s).

Removed

• Check on empty private & public directories, as they will be cleanly created with timestamp anyway.
• The obligation to have your inputfile in the current directory.

v0.3 - 2021-01-14

Added

• readme.txt.
• Warranty text in backup as well as restore mode.
• 'Haiku' (a BeOS clone) added to the list of supported platforms (linux, macOS, BSD).
• GNU Affero General Public License.
• This CHANGELOG file to hopefully serve as an evolving example of a standardized open source project NAEON.

Changed

• Text color yellow (tput setaf 226) changed into green (tput setaf 10) for better readability on white backgrounds.

Fixed

• Misspelling of 'macOS'.
• Error 'Argument list too long' when moving large numbers of Public Chunks to public directory on low memory systems.
• Missing requirements in backup mode.
• Variable 'unattended mode' was not set in restore mode.

v0.2 - 2021-01-10

Added

• Minimum size for inputfile (100,000 bytes) in order to prevent encryption key ending up in public chunk.
• Reporting on updates in size of encrypted file after: creation, insertion of prepend block, and adding append block.
• Handling the unlikely occurrence of a zero-size append block.
• Better, more structured reporting on the sizes of the chunks and their distribution.
• Tag in XML: 'Naeon_version' containing the current naeon version number.

Changed

• Replaced 'exit 0' by 'exit 1' when program is terminated unsuccessfully.
• Size of prepend block: from a random value between 1,000-500,000 bytes, to a random value between 1-10,000 bytes.

Fixed

• On BSD and macOS: when splitting the encrypted file into private and public chunks, 'bc' was not set to arithmetic mode.
• On BSD and macOS: splitting encrypted file into > 676 (26^2) parts ( x[a-z][a-z] ) resulted into error "split: too many files". Fixed: x[a-z][a-z][a-z] now maxes out on 17,576 (26^3) parts.
• Find command adjusted - now looking only for split-files x??? and no more for x?? and x?????.

v0.1 - 2021-01-08

Added

• Merged ecbu (backup program) and ecre (restore program) into 'naeon'.
• First integrated, fully functioning, encrypted backup & restore version of this program. Initial public beta version.

[PRE VERSION 0.1]

• ecre v0.8 - 2021-01-08
• ecre v0.7 - 2021-01-08
• ecbu v0.1h - 2021-01-08
• ecre v0.6 - 2021-01-07
• ecre v0.5 - 2021-01-07
• ecre v0.4 - 2021-01-07
• ecbu v0.1g - 2021-01-06
• ecre v0.3 - 2021-01-05
• ecre v0.2 - 2021-01-05
• ecre v0.1 - 2021-01-05
• ecre v0.0 - 2021-01-05

December 2020

• ecbu v0.1f - 2020-12-31
• ecbu v0.1e - 2020-12-30
• ecbu v0.1d - 2020-12-30
• ecbu v0.1c - 2020-12-29
• ecbu v0.1b - 2020-12-29
• ecbu v0.1a - 2020-12-29
• ecbu v0.0 - 2020-12-27 / 2020-12-29
• conceptualization - 2020-12-14 / 2020-12-26