12th February 2015

Downloading Binary Data, for example Boost C++ Library

Downloading the Boost C++ library is occasionally hindered by various company policies.

boost_1_57_0.7z.rc4.b64 is Boost version 1.57.0 (MD5 is 17c98dd78d6180f553fbefe5a0f57d12) in the following format:

  1. compressed with 7z, size 55 MB
  2. encrypted with RC4, password "boost", size doesn't change
  3. base64 encoded, size 74 MB

Encryption and encoding was done like this

openssl enc -rc4 -a -in boost_1_57_0.7z -out boost_1_57_0.7z.rc4.b64

Decrypting goes like this:

openssl enc -d -rc4 -a -in boost_1_57_0.7z.rc4.b64 -out unencrypted.7z