💩 pooputil

Ever heard of malware?

One of the first things it usually does is scan your drive for common file extensions.

.docx .xlsx .pptx
.pdf  .jpg  .png
.zip  .zip  .txt

Your files are predictable.

pooputil changes that.

pooputil is a small open-source file encryption utility that compresses your files into encrypted .poop containers.

Instead of just hiding files somewhere, pooputil compresses them, encrypts them using AES-256-GCM, derives keys using Scrypt, and securely overwrites the original file after encryption. The compression happens inside the container — no plaintext ZIP ever touches your disk.

Whether youre storing backups, documents or just wanna archive stuff safely, pooputil gives you a Python API, CLI and a simple desktop GUI.

Current Ver v0.1.1

Licensed under GPLv3. Fork it, improve it or build your own project on top of it.

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Features

• AES-256-GCM authenticated encryption
• Scrypt (n=2^17) password derivation, params stored in the container header
• Built-in DEFLATE compression inside the ciphertext
• Encrypted folder manifest (names, sizes, mtimes) — restored on decrypt
• Custom .poop container format, v2 with v1 read-back
• Python API
• CLI
• Desktop GUI
• Secure overwrite-based deletion
• Backend separated from GUI

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Why .poop?

A lot of malware targets common file extensions.

.docx
.xlsx
.pdf
.jpg
.png
.zip

Those are easy to recognize.

pooputil stores encrypted data inside .poop containers instead.

Will this stop malware?

Probably not.

If malware wants to encrypt every file on your disk itll happily encrypt .poop too.

The idea here isnt to beat malware, its to make your actual file contents unreadable without the password while also giving you a funny file extension.

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Fun Fact

The .poop file extension was inspired by No Text To Speech.

If you know, you know.

Architecture

pooputil is split into modules kinda like Arduino.

GUI
 │
 ▼
pooputil.core
 ▲
 │
CLI
 │
 ▼
Python API

The GUI is just a frontend.

Most of the work happens inside pooputil.core, so you can import it directly into your own scripts without dragging GUI stuff along.

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Crypto

Component	Algorithm
Encryption	AES-256-GCM
KDF	Scrypt n=2^17 r=8 p=1
Salt	16 bytes
Nonce	12 bytes
Authentication	GCM Tag
Compression	raw DEFLATE inside the ciphertext

KDF params and the compression method live in the plaintext header, bound by GCM AAD — so they can be tuned in future versions without breaking old files.

I use the cryptography library instead of trying to implement crypto myself.

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Container format

The v2 layout is specced in docs/DOCS.md: a 54-byte authenticated header (magic, version, type, compression method, KDF params, salt, IV, tag), then a single GCM stream. Folder containers embed an encrypted JSON manifest followed by one compressed stream per file.

Old v1 containers (pooputil < 0.2.0) still decrypt.

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Secure deletion

After encryption pooputil overwrites the original file before deleting it.

Decryption works the same way in reverse: once your data is restored, the .poop container is overwritten and removed. So decrypting a container consumes it — keep a copy if you want to decrypt it twice.

Keep in mind secure deletion depends on your filesystem and storage device SSDs especially don't always behave the same because of wear leveling

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Installation

pip install pooputil

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Usage

GUI

pooputil-gui

or

python -m pooputil

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CLI

Encrypt (interactive — the password is hidden and confirmed twice, so a typo cant nuke your original)

pooputil-cli --encrypt "/path/to/data"

Decrypt (interactive)

pooputil-cli --decrypt "/path/to/data.poop"

Non-interactive (for scripts — note that --password shows up in your shell history, which is why the prompt exists)

pooputil-cli --encrypt "/path/to/data" --password "SuperSecretKey99"

pooputil-cli --decrypt "/path/to/data.poop" --password "SuperSecretKey99"

Or via environment variable

POOPUTIL_PASSWORD="SuperSecretKey99" pooputil-cli --decrypt "/path/to/data.poop"

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Python API

from pooputil import core

password = b"SuperSecretPassword"
target = "./important.docx"

if core.is_safe_path(target):
    core.encrypt_target(target, password)
else:
    print("Unsafe path.")

Decrypt

from pooputil import core

restored = core.decrypt_target(
    "./important.docx.poop",
    b"SuperSecretPassword"
)

print(restored)

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Disclaimer

This project is meant for legitimate encryption and backup purposes.

Also...

Dont forget your password.

I cant magically decrypt your .poop if you lose it.

You cant unflush a poop if you flushed it.

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License

GPLv3.