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authorebiggers <ebiggers@google.com>2019-07-27 15:51:42 -0700
committerJoseph Richey <joerichey@google.com>2019-07-27 15:51:42 -0700
commit09c9185bedacbde734a91ca91202af740c68c6bf (patch)
treef3c357ea0eaa1ff21ec1dd499db637acac2bc7ef
parent2b6667a677bf80be0f7dd14baa2516bfdd1f0b50 (diff)
README.md: improve documentation of GRUB limitation (#136)
Resolves https://github.com/google/fscrypt/issues/58
-rw-r--r--README.md18
1 files changed, 8 insertions, 10 deletions
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c5f9ca7..1a72185 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -581,8 +581,14 @@ following should be true:
block size (run `tune2fs -l /dev/device | grep 'Block size'`) are the same.
- You are ok with not being able to mount this filesystem with a v4.0
kernel or older.
- - You are __NOT__ using GRUB to boot directly off this filesystem. If
- you have a sperate `/boot` partition, you are fine.
+ - Either you are __NOT__ using GRUB to boot directly off this filesystem, or
+ you are using GRUB 2.04 or later. This is necessary because old versions of
+ GRUB can't boot from ext4 filesystems that have the encryption feature
+ enabled, even if none of the boot files are encrypted themselves. If, like
+ most people, you have a separate `/boot` partition, you are fine. You are
+ also fine if you are using the GRUB Debian package `2.02-2` or later (*not*
+ a `2.02_beta*` version), including the version in Ubuntu 18.04 and later,
+ since the patch to support encryption was backported.
If any of the above is not true, __DO NOT ENABLE FILESYSTEM ENCRYPTION__.
@@ -597,14 +603,6 @@ debugfs -w -R "feature -encrypt" /dev/device
fsck -fn /dev/device
```
-Note: It is actually possible to get GRUB to boot an encrypted ext4 filesystem.
-However, it requires GRUB 2.02 (__NOT__ the 2.02 beta) to be installed as the
-bootloader. As this version was released in April 2017, most systems __WILL
-FAIL TO BOOT__ with an ext4 encrypted boot directory. Note that this is only
-relevant to systems without a separate boot partition. Sytems with `/boot` on
-a different partition than the one being encrypted (including all UEFI systems)
-are not effected by this.
-
## Legal
Copyright 2017 Google Inc. under the