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Comment by gmjosack | Hacker News Reader

I currently use KeePass on Windows, Linux, and Android. Can anyone explain what KeePassX is and what its relationship with KeePass is? All I can seem to find is that it's a cross platform version of KeePass (which KeePass is for my needs) and only supports the older database format.

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Basically, "vanilla" keypass didn't have cross platform compatibility; "KeePassX to the rescue".

I think maybe this is them catching up, but I think it's really good for the entire project that there are several alternatives.

Which one is better? I (lightly) use KeePassX and it's great for my needs, but I'm wondering what the advantage of KeePass is.

KeePass on Windows seems to have much, much more options than KeePass X, but X loads much faster for me especially when unlocking a database.

I use KeePassDroi d (annoying text break) on Android, KeePassX on Mac and Linux but the Windows KeePass doesn't read the same file type as the others, unless I'm missing something? I want to use the same database file for all three OSesess.

Maybe you use KeePass 1.x?

KeePass 1.x does not support the new database format and saves its databases as KDB files. KeePass 2.x uses the new database format (KDBX) and it can also import KDB databases created with KeePass 1.x.

See the differences here:

http://keepass.info/compare.html

http://keepass.info/help/v2/version.html

I use the same combination myself (KeePassDroid on Android, KeePassX 2 alpha on Linux, KeePass 2 on Windows) with a single KDBX database and I can read the database fine on all OSes. However, I avoid editing the database on Android and on Linux, since KeePassX 2 is still alpha, while KDBX support in KeePassDroid is still experimental.

Try Keepass2Android - it uses the Mono libraries of Keepass 2 running natively on Android, and now supports merging external changes to the database. I've been using it for 6 months now without a hiccup.

Thank you. I didn’t know about Keepass2Android.

Am I the only one getting an invalid SSl certificate from https://keepass.info/ ?

No, the cert is for webserver.ispgateway.de thus you should get an error.

I know exactly what you mean about the annoying text break on Android. Just as an FYI, I've upgraded my Nexus 4 to 4.4.2 and installed the Google Experience Launcher and now the name displays properly on a single line. I installed the GEL just to try it out and, as stupid as it may sound, I'd be lying if I said the fixed KeePassDroid label wasn't a major factor in leaving it installed.

The original KeePass was only for windows. Someone forked it and made KeepassL for linux. It was then rewritten for cross compatibility and came to be known as KeePassX. Now that the Keepass itself is cross compatible, it kind of makes KeepassX redundant.

Or maybe KeePass is redundant with KeePassX available.

The KeePass model of development is not very appealing to contributors or anyone who might want to review the code for security. KeePass has no official public repository and only has a dump of the source code for each version the author releases. (Although some people have turned them into repos, the lack of proper commit logs means it's not very easy to see exactly what is being changed[1])

On the other hand, KeePassX is developed in the open like most open source software. I think I'd rather trust that people are reviewing the code here.

[1]:https://github.com/dlech/keepass2/commit/6c87c0a9c8e34558de9...

I have always used KeePassX for the simple reason that it does not depend on Mono. There had been uncertainty of the legal and ideological status of Mono as a free/open source project [citation needed] with respect to the Microsoft Community Promise. As a result, I had always stayed away from all things Mono. Has that situation changed for the better?

No.

>Now that the Keepass itself is cross compatible

It's "cross compatible" only in as much as the .NET Framework is, i.e. not much. Mono is one big hack to bring what is a Windows-based framework to other platforms.

KeepassX is built on Qt, which is a truly cross-platform toolkit.

Not really. Keepass2 has a lot of problems on Linux based operating systems. Keepassx however, while lacking in embellished features works perfectly and fits right into gnome shell.

As a data point, I've never had any issue running it (I think using mono?) on Ubuntu systems. They even have a PPA!

What problems?

I'm pretty sure KeepassX supports the new database format -- I think their FAQ is wrong. Its relationship with KeePass is just that it's another program that can open that file format; they aren't really "related." I use it on my Mac because it works better than using regular KeePass through Mono.

Regular Keepass through Mono on my Mac was abysmal. I'll give KeepassX a shot.

The 2.0 series of KeePassX does support the newer (2.0) KeePass database format. I've been using the Alpha 3 for a while now and it works well on OS X. The biggest thing I miss from the Windows version is the password generator.

Actually the new versions of keepassx have password generators.

Didn't realize they released a package for KeePass - when I looked a few years ago, I ended up using KeepassX because I couldn't find one, and it's worked great for the past 2 years for me.

How do you sync them across those platforms? How does it compare to LastPass. LastPass Chrome extension is really great.

You can store the .kdb file on a shared dropbox folder. I know it's not as safe as keeping separate .kdb files (theoretically your dropbox folder can be hacked, but they still would need your master password), but to me it's a sacrifice in the name of convenience. Pro tip: you can even sync to the minikeepass app on your iphone. It's great having all your passwords always with you!

Dropbox of course. There are some good mobile clients (i use KyPass on iPhone), so you can have your passwords literally everywhere.

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