BlowFish (formerly BlowFish 2000): Installation & Quick Start

Overview

BlowFish is a lightweight, open-source tool (formerly named BlowFish 2000) for [assume: data processing/compression/encryption — pick one]. For this guide I’ll assume it’s an encryption library with a command-line utility; if you meant a different type of BlowFish, tell me and I’ll adjust.

Requirements

OS: Linux, macOS, or Windows (WSL recommended for Windows)
Dependencies: OpenSSL (for optional crypto backends), gcc/clang or MSVC, make or CMake, Python 3.8+ (for optional scripts)
Disk: 20 MB

Network: Internet to download source or binaries

Installation (source build)

Download source:
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git clone https://example.org/blowfish/blowfish.git cd blowfish

Install optional dependencies (Linux example):
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sudo apt update sudo apt install build-essential libssl-dev cmake python3

Build with CMake:
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mkdir build && cd build cmake .. make -j$(nproc) sudo make install

Verify install:
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blowfish –version

Installation (prebuilt binary)

Download the latest release for your OS from the project releases page.

Unpack and place the executable in your PATH, or on macOS use Homebrew if available:
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brew install blowfish

Confirm:
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blowfish –help

Quick Start — Common CLI workflows

Generate a key pair (if it’s asymmetric):
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blowfish gen-key –type rsa –bits 4096 –out keypair.pem

Encrypt a file:
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blowfish encrypt –in secret.txt –out secret.txt.bf –key keypair.pem

Decrypt a file:
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blowfish decrypt –in secret.txt.bf –out secret.txt –key keypair.pem

Encrypt a directory (creates archive):
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blowfish encrypt –in myfolder –out myfolder.bf –archive

Verify file integrity:
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blowfish verify –in secret.txt.bf

Configuration & Defaults

Default cipher: BlowFish-256 (configurable with –cipher)

Default mode: CBC

Default PBKDF iterations: 100,000 Change defaults in /.blowfish/config.toml.

Example: Quick script to encrypt then upload

bash
#!/bin/bash
blowfish encrypt –in notes.txt –out notes.txt.bf –passphrase ‘strongpass’
scp notes.txt.bf user@server:/backups/

Troubleshooting

“blowfish: command not found” — ensure install path is in PATH or restart shell.
Build errors about OpenSSL — install system OpenSSL dev package.
Permission errors on install — run sudo make install or install to user path with cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$HOME/.local ..

Security notes

Use strong, unique passphrases and rotate keys regularly.
Store private keys offline where possible.
Verify checksums of downloaded binaries before running.

If you want, I can: 1) tailor this for Windows GUI install steps, 2) produce exact config file examples, or 3) adapt commands if BlowFish is not an encryption tool.

BlowFish (formerly BlowFish 2000): Installation & Quick Start