kde 4.1 does not automount LUKS encrypted external USB harddisks

[madhusudansingh]

Just updated my sources.list and installed KDE 4.1 (the release that is not supposed to be a developer release, unlike 4.0). When I plug in a LUKS encrypted external USB harddisk, I am no longer prompted (like I am for KDE 3.5.9) for the passphrase. Once I go to the command line and do "sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdf1 backup", the new device notifier immediately pops up notifying me about an available ext3 volume. When I plug in an unencrypted USB memory stick, the same happens. This suggests that KDE 4.1 hal subsystem is ok but the LUKS decryption link is either missing or broken.

$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 8.04.1
Release: 8.04

$ apt-cache policy hal
hal:
  Installed: 0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu8.2
  Candidate: 0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu8.2
  Version table:
 *** 0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu8.2 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/main Packages
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy-proposed/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu7 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Packages

$ apt-cache policy kubuntu-kde4-desktop
kubuntu-kde4-desktop:
  Installed: 0.14-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa1
  Candidate: 0.14-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa1
  Version table:
 *** 0.14-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa1 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net hardy/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.14 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/universe Packages

What was expected to happen ?

I expected a nice popup box offering to decrypt the volume.

What happened instead ?

Nothing.

[Dariel Dato-on (odd-rationale)]

Most filemanager do not automount LUKS encrypted devices.

Take a look at krypt (http://krypt.berlios.de/).

[madhusudansingh (madhusudan-singh)]

Excuse me, but KDE 3.5.9 used to (and still does). No, I did not use krypt
(which has been rendered obsolete by the functionality in KDE 3.5.9). Gnome
has done this for ages before that.

So, while information is always welcome to track down bugs, misinformation
of the sort "Most filemanager do not automount LUKS encrypted devices.", is
counterproductive.

Nautilus, Konqueror and Dolphin (in KDE 3.5.9) do automount LUKS encrypted
devices. So, which filemanagers did you have in mind ?

In any case, this is handled by hal.

On Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 5:57 PM, Odd-rationale <email address hidden>wrote:

> Most filemanager do not automount LUKS encrypted devices.
>
> Take a look at krypt (http://krypt.berlios.de/).
>
> ** Changed in: ubuntu
> Status: New => Invalid
>
> ** bug changed to question:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/41555
>
> --
> kde 4.1 does not automount LUKS encrypted external USB harddisks
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/253768
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Adam Williamson (awilliamson)]

It works in KDE 3 because of a third party patch Ubuntu integrated. See upstream bug:

http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=113629

The Ubuntu bug is:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kdebase/+bug/128863

This support is not part of original upstream KDE 3. Adding support to KDE 4 would depend on someone writing something along the lines of this patch, either upstream KDE or a third party as before.