Solus is still getting some pretty cool features, and it looks like developers are preparing to get some sort of disk encryption ready just in time for the launch.

Building an operating system from scratch usually means that developers also forgo some of the perks that come with a powerful OS. For example, if Ubuntu is used as a base, you can also take advantage of the Ubiquity installer to get all the features you need. One of those features is disk encryption.

All of the major distributions provide this facility, and the Solus developers are also considering implementing it. This is not actually a simple task, and they will have a lot of work on their hands, especially since they intend to push the 1.0 out the door before Christmas.

This is why they are asking Solus users on Google+ what kind of encryption they would want, full-disk or per-partition. One of the options in the poll was choosing both, and most people went for that one. Disk encryption is a powerful tool, and it will be appreciated by users.

Disk encryption is a two-way street

It’s worth keeping in mind that there is a good reason this is not the kind of feature that you implement by default. First of all, it’s going to affect the performance and the boot times. Not a lot, but enough to be noticeable. Secondly, users will never be able to access the system from outside. In theory, it sounds like a good idea until something goes wrong and you need access (hence the per-partition) to your drives.

It provides an important security option for users, but it’s actually a compromise. In any case, it would be nice if Solus shipped with disk encryption available by default, but we’ll know more in the coming weeks. You can download the latest Solus build from Softpedia and take it for a spin. It’s a Live CD, and it works like a charm in virtual environments.

Update:

Michael Rutherford, one of the developers from the Solus project, pointed us in the direction of the GitHub entry for the Solus installer, where we can see the progress made by the project.