I would like to encrypt my backups on disk, but am concerned that doing
so relies on openssl and that may create problems down the line.  Could
anyone clarify if it will?  What's the best thing to do (which might be
avoiding encryption)?

I realize that 100% certainty is unlikely; I'll settle for less!

Details:

I use bacula on Debian, and it has disabled openssl support because of
licensing problems (e.g., thread beginning
http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2007/07/msg00144.html, also the
"catch-22 thread" on this list in June).  I am interested in encrypting
backups.  I don't actually care about encrypting communication on the
wire, but from what I can tell either feature uses openssl.

Does on-disk encryption depend on openssl?

I thought I might build a version with openssl enabled, which I think is
OK as long as I'm not trying to redistribute it.

Is there a risk that at some time in the future I will find bacula
doesn't work with openssl and will not be able to decrypt backups I
create with openssl?

Apparently some people have been working on getting bacula to work with
GNUTLS, but Kern's plan is to relicense the sources so they can continue
to work with openssl.  (I'm a little surprised the latter is possible
given that FSF is administering? holding? the license.).  But it  sounds
as if a transition to TLS is possible, maybe done by downstream
packagers (e.g., Debian).

I don't know if GNUTLS is sufficiently compatible with openssl that it
would still be possible to decrypt stuff created with openssl.

Anyway, is there a way I can encrypt my backup files that will likely
continue to work in the future?

Thanks.
Ross Boylan

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