Link: https://gitlab.steamos.cloud/holo/dirlock/-/wikis/Enabling-disk-encryption-on-the-Steam-Deck

A tool for managing encrypted directories using the Linux kernel's fscrypt API. Instructions for the Steam Deck here.

Paywall?

Is Steam Hardware not encrypted by default? Most Linux installs provide the option these days, no?

No, it is not. And yes there is LUKS/dmcrypt-plain/ZFS Encryption

Those are all generally by disk or partition though (sure you can have /home as a mounted encrypted partition but then it’s a fixed size against the other partitions).

In the interest of (I assume) making the system itself unencrypted for updates and troubleshooting while protecting sensitive user data, valve built

https://gitlab.steamos.cloud/holo/dirlock#dirlock

Which encrypts the home directory while keeping it part of a single partition

It should be noted they aren’t the first to build directory encryption, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ECryptfs is still part of the Linux kernel but it’s unmaintained and may be removed