I'm using eCryptfs on an Ubuntu 10.4 system with the 2.6.32-27 kernel. It was set up using the Ubuntu installer from the i386 alternative CDROM with the encrypted home directory option enabled. Recently, I noticed several unrelated problems (mostly surrounding gconfd segmentation faults) that I traced back to invalid configuration files. They're dotted with control characters that shouldn't be there.
How should I go about troubleshooting problems with eCryptfs? The kernel is logging lots of errors from eCryptfs when I read from the affected filesystem (and is not doing so when I'm not accessing that filesystem). Most are similar to this: [11396.149898] ecryptfs_parse_tag_70_packet: Invalid tag 70 packet; could not find valid separator between random characters and the filename [11396.149910] ecryptfs_decode_and_decrypt_filename: Could not parse tag 70 packet from filename; copying through filename as-is There's also some of this: [1193268.620713] Valid eCryptfs headers not found in file header region or xattr region [1193268.620723] Either the lower file is not in a valid eCryptfs format, or the key could not be retrieved. Plaintext passthrough mode is not enabled; returning -EIO And occasionally, there's some of this: [1196589.860130] ecryptfs_decrypt_page: Error attempting to read lower page; rc = [-4] [1196589.860144] ecryptfs_readpage: Error decrypting page; rc = [-4] I've tried rebooting with older kernel images. I've searched the Web for parts of the error messages and for relevant keywords. I skimmed the eCryptfs FAQ, which concludes with a suggestion to mail the ecryptfs-users list. I did that, but no one has responded, and it appears that list is not used much. -- Phil Mocek
