From owner-freebsd-geom@FreeBSD.ORG  Sun Jun  9 19:51:45 2013
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Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2013 14:51:12 -0500 (CDT)
From: Greg Rivers <gcr+freebsd-geom@tharned.org>
To: Pawel Jakub Dawidek <pjd@FreeBSD.org>
Subject: Re: geli external header (metadata)
In-Reply-To: <20130609182457.GB2468@garage.freebsd.pl>
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 (roadkill.tharned.org [75.145.12.185]); Sun, 09 Jun 2013 14:51:39 -0500 (CDT)
Cc: Andrew Romero <lastpriot@gmail.com>, freebsd-geom@freebsd.org
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On Sun, 9 Jun 2013, Pawel Jakub Dawidek wrote:

> On Sat, Jun 08, 2013 at 03:02:10PM +0300, Andrew Romero wrote:
> > Hi all
> > I made a patch to support of external header (metadata) on GEOM ELI (geli)
> > 
> > System: FreeBSD 9-STABLE r250964 i386
> > 
> > geli patch - http://pastebin.com/UGpnMN19
> > regresion patch - http://pastebin.com/hJVkTpJZ
> 
> I don't mean to discourage you, but every additional complexity comes at 
> risk and it case of GELI this is security risk. What is missing in your 
> work is explanation how it that useful for the users? How do you use it? 
> First I need to understand and be convinced that this functionality is 
> generally useful and thus is worth additional complexity and risk.
>

I can't speak for Mr Romero, but I imagine what he's after is plausible 
deniability.  The GELI metadata on a volume unambiguously declares it to 
be encrypted data.

Properly implemented, I think this could be a worthwhile enhancement for 
certain applications or circumstances where one may not wish to invite 
further scrutiny.

-- 
Greg Rivers