- 1 year ago
openssl base64 -d syntax fails for larger decodes (hangs) in git bash on windows 10
If the openssl base64 -d
command hangs or fails to decode larger inputs in Git Bash on Windows 10, it might be due to a limitation in the command shell or the available resources.
To address this issue, you can try the following alternatives:
Use
certutil
instead ofopenssl
: Git Bash on Windows provides thecertutil
utility, which can also be used to decode base64-encoded data. You can try usingcertutil -decode
instead ofopenssl base64 -d
to decode the input.Example:
bashcertutil -decode input.txt output.txt
Replace
input.txt
with the path to your base64-encoded input file andoutput.txt
with the desired output file path.Split the input into smaller chunks: If the input is too large for a single command to handle, you can split it into smaller chunks and process them individually. For example, you can split the base64-encoded input into smaller segments and then decode each segment separately.
Example:
bash# Split the input file into smaller segments
split -b 1000 input.txt input_segment
# Decode each segment separately
for segment in input_segment*; do
openssl base64 -d -in "$segment" -out "${segment}_decoded"
done
# Concatenate the decoded segments into the final output
cat input_segment_decoded* > output.txt
Adjust the segment size (
-b 1000
in the example) according to your requirements and split the input file into appropriately sized segments.
These alternatives should help you overcome the hanging or failure issue when decoding larger base64 inputs in Git Bash on Windows 10. Choose the method that works best for your specific use case.