GPG encryption and decryption of a folder using command line

If you don't want to tarball everything together and want to encrypt multiple files individually:

cd into the folder

encrypt: $ls | gpg --multifile --encrypt or $ls | gpg --encrypt-files -r <recipient>

decrypt: $ls | gpg --multifile --decrypt or $ls | gpg --decrypt-files

gpgtar is another option as well. gpgtar encrypts or signs files into an archive. It is a gpg-ized tar using the same format as used by PGP's PGP Zip.

It installs along with gnupg on MacOS and Linux.

Encrypt Directory

gpgtar --encrypt --output <out_file_name> -r <recipient> <dir_name>

Decrypt Directory

gpgtar --decrypt <out_file_name>

gpgtar man page

Solution 1:

Use gpg-zip.

Encrypt the contents of directory mydocs for user Bob to file test1:

gpg-zip --encrypt --output test1 --gpg-args  -r Bob mydocs

List the contents of archive test1:

gpg-zip --list-archive test1

This is an example directly from Encrypt or sign files into an archive. If you read that page in detail it will help you out a lot.

Solution 2:

Turn a directory into a file

If you want to encrypt a directory, you will need to convert it to a file first. Run the command:

tar czf myfiles.tar.gz mydirectory/

This gives you a new file 'myfiles.tar.gz' which you can then encrypt/decrypt. To turn a tarball back into a directory:

tar xzf myfiles.tar.gz

now you can use encrypt in the same way that you have above. So:

gpg --encrypt --recipient [email protected] ~/xxx/xxx.txt

This is taken directly from an example on berkeley encrypting, which is also a quick and useful read.

You can review the man page here: gnu gpg man