bugGNU nano - Bugs: bug #27346, [Wish] add support for writing the...

 
 

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bug #27346: [Wish] add support for writing the buffer contents to standard out

Submitter:  None
Submitted:  Sun 30 Aug 2009 12:30:04 PM UTC
   
 
Severity:  1 - Wish Status:  None
Assigned to:  None Open/Closed:  Open

Jump to the original submission

Fri 25 Nov 2022 11:05:31 AM UTC, comment #7: 

Using a named pipe would also work for editing GPG-encrypted data, but having to use two terminals isn't really user friendly.

So, with the patch (attached, updated for current git), the following should allow decrypting, editing, and re-encrypting a file in basically a single command:

gpg --decrypt secretdata.gpg | src/nano - |
    gpg --encrypt --recipient username >editedstuff.gpg &&
mv editedstuff.gpg secretdata.gpg

This should ask for the passphrase (for the decrypting) just once, as encrypting does not require the passphrase.

It is rather weird, though, that typing ^S or ^O will immediately exit from nano.  (The patch could be improved to make ^X do the same thing, instead of inappropriately asking for a filename.)

(file #54014)

 Benno Schulenberg <bens>
Group administrator
Wed 23 Nov 2022 04:29:03 PM UTC, comment #6: 

Not really a solution, but just pointing out that what is discussed here can be done using named pipes (though given the interactive nature of nano, it cannot be done within a single terminal).

E.g.


mkfifo mypipe
echo echo dangerous command here > mypipe & nano mypipe

# saving in nano will block. from another terminal:
bash mypipe   # this will also unblock nano which can be exited normally


(I know this is from 2009 and presumably people know about named pipes, but just in case anyone bumps into this bug looking for this functionality and is happy to use named pipes instead)

 Tasos Papastylianou <tpapastylianou>
Mon 04 Jan 2021 02:20:14 PM UTC, comment #5: 

This is a great feature! I don't see any disadvantages to implementing it (other than a few lines of code added).

This allows:

wget dangero.us/shell.sh |nano - |bash

When the file is saved, it is piped into bash, having allowed inspection and even modification. If nano is quit without saving, nothing happens.

And the patch (file #49944) still applies without any modifications..!

 Peter Passchier <pepa65>
Wed 11 Nov 2020 03:08:00 PM UTC, comment #4: 

Doesn't really work: both the decoding and the encoding ask for the password -- that is too confusing.  It should ask for the password just once, but I don't know how to arrange that.

 Benno Schulenberg <bens>
Group administrator
Thu 08 Oct 2020 06:23:32 PM UTC, comment #3: 

Here's a first implementation of the feature.

(file #49944)

 Benno Schulenberg <bens>
Group administrator
Mon 08 Aug 2016 03:35:24 PM UTC, comment #2: 

It is already possible to read in the output of a decryption command by using the "read from standard input" feature.  For example: 'gpg --decrypt safebox.asc | nano -'.  But there is no way to encrypt this again without using a temporary file on disk.  What is needed is an option to tell nano to write the buffer contents not to a file but to standard output.  That doesn't look easy to make.  I don't even know if it's possible.

 Benno Schulenberg <bens>
Group administrator
Sat 14 Jun 2014 04:41:03 PM UTC, comment #1: 

I have no comprehension of GPG, but would the new --noread option be of any use to you?  (Available from nano-2.3.3 onward.)

 Benno Schulenberg <bens>
Group administrator
Sun 30 Aug 2009 12:30:04 PM UTC, original submission:  

Hello,
is there possibility to get support for editing files encrypted by those commands?

gpg -c file -> .gpg file
gpg -ca file -> .asc file
ccrypt -e file -> .cpt file

It can be done by simple BASH script, but you need an intermediate file which can be bit insecure. nano can have some argument which will decrypt file when opening and encrypt file with the same password before saving/creating. or this feature can be enabled when nano is called with argv[0] "cnano" instead of "nano".

I think that this can be usefull for storing passwords or making personal notes, etc...

Thanks. ;o)

 Anonymous

 

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Attached Files
file #54014:  0001-tentative-feature-allow-piping-the-buffer-to-standar.patch added by bens (5KiB - text/x-patch)
file #49944:  0001-possible-new-feature-allow-piping-out-the-buffer-via.patch added by bens (5KiB - text/x-patch)

 

Depends on the following items: None found

Items that depend on this one: None found

 

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  • -email is unavailable- added by tpapastylianou (Posted a comment)
  • -email is unavailable- added by pepa65 (Posted a comment)
  • -email is unavailable- added by bens (Posted a comment)

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    Follow 10 latest changes.

    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2022-11-25 bens Attached File- Added 0001-tentative-feature-allow-piping-the-buffer-to-standar.patch, #54014
    2022-03-14 bens Summary[Request] add support for writing the buffer contents to standard out [Wish] add support for writing the buffer contents to standard out
    2020-11-11 bens StatusIn progress None
        Assigned tobens None
    2020-10-08 bens Attached File- Added 0001-possible-new-feature-allow-piping-out-the-buffer-via.patch, #49944
        StatusNone In progress
        Assigned toNone bens
    2016-08-08 bens Summary[Request] add support for editing files encrypted with GPG or CCrypt [Request] add support for writing the buffer contents to standard out
    2014-06-14 bens Severity3 - Normal 1 - Wish
        Summary[Feature request] Add support for editing files encrypted with GPG or CCrypt [Request] add support for editing files encrypted with GPG or CCrypt

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