Ask HN: Cross platform password manager without cloud? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Cross platform password manager without cloud?

12 pointsthefreeman8 comments

Seriously, I have been trying for months to find a solution that fits my need.

- Cross platform (at least Linux and Windows, preferably Android)

- Lets me keep my own data and sync it however I want

- Integrates with browsers via autotype / plugins / extensions

Keepass is not the answer. KeepassX (the linux compatible version) is only compatible with Keepass (for windows) version 1, which has no browser integration.

LastPass would be fine but they keep my data.

1Password doesn't work on linux.

Am I just missing something? It really doesn't seem like my needs are that unreasonable. Is it just that nobody really cares about keeping their passwords in "the cloud"?

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You are missing one. Password Gorilla: https://github.com/zdia/gorilla/wiki

Cross platform (Linux, Windows, Mac for Password Gorilla itself).

Several Android apps that inter-operate with the same format password storage file (Bruce Shiner's PasswordSafe format file). Scroll part way down the above page to find references to some of the Android apps.

Your passwords are stored in an encrypted file stored on your local machine. You can do with the encrypted file what you wish. PWGorilla itself includes a merge feature that merges encrypted files together, and alerts you to the differences so you can fix things up.

Its browser integration is through the OS clipboard. However on Linux the integration is almost to the level of an auto-type plugin (because the X11 clipboard works in a way that allows the better integration).

So, it fits these of your requirements:

Cross platform (Linux, Windows [check], Android [secondary app])

Lets you keep your own data and sync it however you want [check].

Integrates with browsers [partial check].

So it's close. Not 100%, but close. It is also GPL open source, so you've got nothing to lose in giving it a try.

[edit: add a couple paragraph breaks]

> Cross platform password manager without cloud?

Interesting you should mention this. I just got done installing Keepassx on Linux, but it's cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux):

http://www.keepassx.org/downloads/

Also, easier, if you're running a Debian-based Linux:

# apt-get install keepassx

And finally, there's an Android-compatible program that reads and uses the same database file in the same way:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.android.ke...

After creating some passwords I tested all the versions' ability to read and issue passwords from the master database, it went off without a hitch.

BTW all the versions are free.

As to "without cloud", no problem, just copy the master database around to where you need it. I have an easy way to directly copy (i.e. no cloud involvement) the database from my desktop machine (where I create and test the passwords) to my Android devices, where it works perfectly.

EDIT: Oops, I see you want a Windows version with browser integration. Sorry, I didn't test that mode.

I hate to reply to my own post, but I just tested the Windows version of Keepassx and it works just fine, reading and writing the cross-platform database file with perfect reliability.

So the only drawback is no browser plugin.

KeePassX is testing a KeePass 2.0 compatible release[1]. There's even a PPA for that version[2].

[1] - http://www.keepassx.org/news/2014/04/433

[2] - https://launchpad.net/~keepassx/+archive/ubuntu/daily

KeePass

http://keepass.info/

EDIT: Oops, didn't see you already looked at it. Well, KeePass doesn't necessarily need browser integration -- get yourself a cheap VPS, put your db file on there, and just point your local KeePass at it (it's entrypted and password protected, or key-file protected, etc).

There is also an Android version for KeePass. So... seems it would fit all your use-cases.

Well its not yet cross platform and lacks autotype stuff (because is a text editor), but obviously I would like to vote for my own made text encryption App for osx: http://textcrypt.4apps.lv/app/updates/TextCrypt_1.0.424.zip :)

KeePass 2 can be run under Mono on both Linux and Mac OSX.

My vote also. If used with dropbox you can also sync it with all devices.

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