Install age Command for Encrypting Files on Raspberry Pi

The age is an open-source and cross-platform tool for encrypting and decrypting files via command line. This tool is written in Go programming language.

This tutorial explains how to install and use age command on Raspberry Pi.

Install age

Connect to Raspberry Pi via SSH and retrieve the latest version tag of age release from GitHub:

AGE_VERSION=$(curl -s "https://api.github.com/repos/FiloSottile/age/releases/latest" | grep -Po '"tag_name": "v\K[0-9.]+')

Run the following command to download tar.gz file from releases page of the age repository:

curl -Lo age.tar.gz "https://github.com/FiloSottile/age/releases/latest/download/age-v${AGE_VERSION}-linux-arm.tar.gz"

Next, extract a tar.gz file:

tar xf age.tar.gz

Move age and age-keygen commands to /usr/local/bin directory.

sudo mv age/age /usr/local/bin
sudo mv age/age-keygen /usr/local/bin

Now both commands will be available for all users.

We can check age version as follows:

age -version

Remove tar.gz file and temporary directory:

rm -rf age.tar.gz
rm -rf age

Testing age

For testing purpose create text file:

echo 'Testing' > data.txt

The age-keygen command can be used for generating private and public key pair. Data is encrypted with public key and decrypted with private key.

age-keygen -o key.txt

A key.txt file was created which holds public key and private key.

cat key.txt

Example:

# created: 2021-12-12T03:43:59Z
# public key: age1s3t8uu7rpsljufpfp06m9pd352dn3nd0hgs68y4w4l75hrsflytsrekd90
AGE-SECRET-KEY-12PPH7GHP6DJ2JUWJ05XAJFNYQGF79A8F65G9EMNGWHMX2ASW6PPSR33UGK

Run age command to encrypt a file with public key:

age -r age1s3t8uu7rpsljufpfp06m9pd352dn3nd0hgs68y4w4l75hrsflytsrekd90 data.txt > data.txt.age

Now encrypted file can be decrypted with private key which stored in key.txt file:

age -d -i key.txt data.txt.age > data_decrypted.txt

Uninstall age

If you want to completely remove age, delete the following files:

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/age
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/age-keygen