I’ve been an Ubuntu User for a while (on and off), and a few versions back, Ubuntu added two great installed-by-default options (both of which are turned off by default), called Byobu (a Pimp-My-GnuScreen app) and ECryptFS (an “Encrypt my home directory” extension).
Until just recently, if you wanted to enable both, and then SSH to the box using public/private keys, it would use the fact you’d connected and authenticated with keys to unlock the ECryptFS module and then start Byobu. A few months back, I noticed that if I rebooted, it wouldn’t automatically unlock the ECryptFS module, so I’d be stuck without either having started. A few login attempts later, and it was all sorted, but just recently, this has got worse, and now every SSH session leaves me at a box with an unmounted ECryptFS module and no Byobu.
So, how does one fix such a pain? With a .profile file of course :)
SSH in, and before you unlock your ECryptFS module run this:
sudo nano .profile
You need to run the above using sudo, as the directory you access before you start ECryptFS is owned by root, and you have no permissions to write to it.
In that editor, paste this text.
#! /bin/bash
`which ecryptfs-mount-private`
cd
`which byobu-launcher`
Then use Ctrl+X to exit the editor and save the file.
The next time you log in, it’ll ask you for your passphrase to unlock the ECryptFS module. Once that’s in, it’ll start Byobu. Job’s a good’n.
