SQLcipher Guide

SQLCipher is based on SQLite, and thus, the majority of the accessible API is identical to the C/C++ interface for SQLite 3. However, SQLCipher does add a number of security specific extensions in the form of PRAGMAs, SQL Functions and C Functions.

Building SQLCipher from Source

1. Clone the SQLCipher repository by running the following command:

   1	$ git clone https://github.com/sqlcipher/sqlcipher.git

2. Navigate to the cloned repository:

   1	$ cd sqlcipher

3. Configure the build with the following command:

   1	$ ./configure --enable-tempstore=yes CFLAGS="-DSQLITE_HAS_CODEC -DSQLITE_TEMP_STORE=2" LDFLAGS="-lcrypto"

4. Build SQLCipher by running the make command:

   1

   $ make

5. Optional: If you want to perform a system-wide installation of SQLCipher, run the following command:

   1	$ make install

Take note of the output of the make install command, specifically the following lines:

• libtool: install: /usr/bin/install -c .libs/libsqlcipher.a /usr/local/lib/libsqlcipher.a
• /usr/bin/install -c -m 0644 sqlite3.h /usr/local/include/sqlcipher

These lines indicate the folders where the SQLCipher headers and library are installed, which are necessary when building a C project.

Building a Minimal C Project Example

Create a file named SQLite_example.c and add the following lines:

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13

#include "sqlite3.h" // We want to use the SQLCipher extension instead of the system-wide SQLite header

int main() {
    sqlite3 *db;
    int rc;

    rc = sqlite3_open("test.db", &db); // Open the SQLite database test.db
    rc = sqlite3_key(db, "1q2w3e4r", 8); // Apply encryption to the previously opened database

    // Perform database operations...

    return 0;
}

Build the example by running the following command in the terminal:

1

$ gcc SQLite_example.c -o SQLtest -I /path/to/local/folder/with/sqlcipher/header/files/ -L /path/to/local/folder/with/sqlcipher/library.a -l sqlcipher

For example, if you extracted the paths from the output of the make install command:

1

$ gcc SQLite_example.c -o SQLtest -I /usr/local/include/sqlcipher -L /usr/local/lib/libsqlcipher.a -lsqlcipher

Make sure that the SQLCipher library is in the system-wide library path. For example, on (Arch)Linux, you can set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable:

1

$ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib/

Finally, run your test code:

1

$ ./SQLtest

Decrypt the database to a plaintext database

Use command to decrypt the database:

1
2
3
4
5
6

$ cd ~/;
$ ./sqlcipher encrypted.db 
sqlite> PRAGMA key = '1q2w3e4r'; 
sqlite> ATTACH DATABASE 'test.db' AS plaintext KEY '';  -- empty key will disable encryption
sqlite> SELECT sqlcipher_export('plaintext'); 
sqlite> DETACH DATABASE plaintext; 

Or, use SQliteStudio:

That’s it! You have successfully built SQLCipher from source and created a minimal C project example using SQLCipher.