edit & compile source without a copy being stored in disk memory

Question

I want to keep only a few copies of source of password hashing and logins for the database & other sites physically with me for maximum security.

How can I edit and compile the source without a copy ever making it onto disk. In other words, is there an unix editor that won't copy the file automatically to disk memory, and can g++ be prevented from storing a copy on the disk during compilation?

Answer 1

If you absolutely need to do this I suggest that you do two things.

Install drive encryption software and use the strongest algorithm possible. Then encrypt a USB stick and stash the private key in a safe deposit box. This takes care of accessing and storing the sensitive data in a portable "take it with me" fashion.

If you want to be excessively paranoid and prevent the file from being copied to an unsecure drive the second thing you can do install a RAM disk and do all of your work on that. You may still have some data stored on disk through virtual memory (which you can turn off if you like) but all operations to the file will occur in RAM. You can then copy the changed files back over to the USB stick or do some sort of syncing. Perhaps a Git repository on the USB stick so you can do a pull into the RAM disk and push changes back out to whatever your active development branch is.

A third option. Get a cheap laptop, encrypt the entire drive and take that with you. It's everything all wrapped up into one!