You can provide the password directly in the command, which is as your password will be stored in plain text in your shell's history file.
To avoid creating an unencrypted temporary file on your hard drive, pipe the tar output directly into gpg : password protect tar.gz file
user wants a long article about password protecting tar.gz files. I need to provide comprehensive information, covering methods using tar with OpenSSL, tar with gpg, zip/unzip, 7-Zip, and potentially GUI tools. I'll also need to include encryption security best practices, troubleshooting, and size limits. To gather this information, I'll perform multiple searches covering these different aspects. search results provide various methods. I'll need to synthesize this information into a comprehensive article. I'll also need to cover topics like security best practices, troubleshooting, and alternatives. I'll open some of the relevant results to gather more details.'ll need to structure the article to cover the main methods (tar + openssl, tar + gpg, zip/unzip, 7-Zip, and GUI tools), compare their security, and include best practices. I'll also need to incorporate information about encryption algorithms, file name encryption, password strength, and troubleshooting. The search results provide a good starting point, but I might need to supplement with additional details on specific commands or security considerations. I'll also need to ensure the article is long and comprehensive, as requested. Now I'll start writing the article. protecting a tar.gz file isn't a feature built directly into the tar command itself. Instead, you achieve it by combining tar with a dedicated encryption tool like gpg or openssl . Here’s a comprehensive guide covering the main methods, from command-line tools for Linux to user-friendly GUI applications, along with key security considerations. You can provide the password directly in the