Symmetric encryption from shell script/cron job?

[clemensF]

> William M. Shubert:

>    tar jcf - /files/needing/backup | \
>      gpg -c --passphrase-from-file passphrase.txt | \
>      ssh me@insecure-system.com cat '>backup.tar.bz2.gpg'
> 
> Looks pretty spiffy, doesn't it? Is there any way to get gnupg to work
> in a script like this? Or is there some other tool that would do the job
> better? I know about a few other tools that can do symmetric encryption,

...or, else use fifo's or pty's.  fifo's will pose a ponderable security
risk, as do pty, which are much more complicated.

clemens