NAME

       packfile_password  -  Sets  the  global  I/O encryption password. Allegro game programming
       library.

SYNOPSIS

       #include <allegro.h>

       void packfile_password(const char *password);

DESCRIPTION

       Sets the encryption password to be used for all read/write operations on files  opened  in
       future  using Allegro's packfile functions (whether they are compressed or not), including
       all the save, load and config routines. Files written with an encryption  password  cannot
       be read unless the same password is selected, so be careful: if you forget the key, nobody
       can make your data come back again! Pass NULL or an empty string to return to the  normal,
       non-encrypted  mode.  If  you  are using this function to prevent people getting access to
       your datafiles, be careful  not  to  store  an  obvious  copy  of  the  password  in  your
       executable: if there are any strings like "I'm the password for the datafile", it would be
       fairly easy to get access to your data :-)

       Note #1: when writing a packfile, you can change the password to whatever you  want  after
       opening  the file, without affecting the write operation.  On the contrary, when writing a
       sub-chunk of a packfile, you must make sure that the password that was active at the  time
       the  sub-chunk was opened is still active before closing the sub-chunk. This is guaranteed
       to be true if you didn't call  the  packfile_password()  routine  in  the  meantime.  Read
       operations, either on packfiles or sub-chunks, have no such restriction.

       Note  #2: as explained above, the password is used for all read/write operations on files,
       including for several functions of the library that operate on  files  without  explicitly
       using  packfiles  (e.g.  load_bitmap()).   The  unencrypted mode is mandatory in order for
       those functions to work.  Therefore remember to call packfile_password(NULL) before  using
       them   if  you  previously  changed  the  password.  As  a  rule  of  thumb,  always  call
       packfile_password(NULL) when  you  are  done  with  operations  on  packfiles.   The  only
       exception to this is custom packfiles created with pack_fopen_vtable().

SEE ALSO

       pack_fopen(3alleg4), load_datafile(3alleg4), pack_fopen_vtable(3alleg4)