Installing LUKS on Slackware 11.0 in 3 steps

LUKS (Linux Unified Key Setup) can be used to encrypt partitions. Below are a few steps to use LUKS on Slackware 11.0.

Step 1: Use a 2.6-kernel

LUKS requires a 2.6-kernel. By default, Slackware 11.0 installs a 2.4 kernel.

I installed the 2.6.17.13 that comes in /extra.

I installed the following packages: kernel-generic-2.6.17.13-i486-1.tgz
kernel-modules-2.6.17.13-i486-1.tgz
kernel-headers-2.6.17.13-i386-1.tgz

Read the README.initrd in the slackware-11.0/extra/linux-2.6.17.13/ directory and build that initrd.

Don't forget to add the new kernel to your grub- or lilo-configuration. Then reboot and watch your kernel messages. Check that your system boots fine with this kernel.

Step 2: Obtaining the software packages

A few packages are needed. Unfortunately, they are not all in the slackware-11.0 repository. So, I took them from slackware-current. Everything seems to work fine, so this is not a big issue.

I installed the following packages: cryptsetup-1.0.5-i486-2.tgz
libgpg-error-1.5-i486-1.tgz
device-mapper-1.02.19-i486-2.tgz
libgcrypt-1.2.4-i486-1.tgz

Step 3: Loading the kernel modules

This is simple:

modprobe dm-mod
modprobe dm-crypt

Done!

Now you are ready to use LUKS on your Slackware 11.0 box!

You can use the cryptsetup commands like cryptsetup luksFormat (to create) and cryptsetup luksOpen (to read) your encrypted partitions.

Resources

Some online resources:

• Cryptsetup with LUKS HowTo
• The dm-crypt homepage
• HOWTO Encrypt Your Home Directory Using LUKS and pam

Happy encrypting!