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cipher: remove padded methods from BlockCipherEncrypt/Decrypt traits#2245

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newpavlov merged 3 commits intomasterfrom
cipher/rm_padded
Jan 30, 2026
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cipher: remove padded methods from BlockCipherEncrypt/Decrypt traits#2245
newpavlov merged 3 commits intomasterfrom
cipher/rm_padded

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@newpavlov newpavlov commented Jan 30, 2026 •
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The methods were intended to be used for the ECB mode, but they are hard to discover in practice for inexperienced users, so I plan to introduce a separate crate for the mode.

Closes #2129

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newpavlov commented Jan 30, 2026 •
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@tarcieri
WDYT about the remaining methods? While they are convenient and probably expected by users, they are problematic since relying on them results in potential backend branching on each method call, which can be quite sub-optimal. In particular, a number of AEAD crates suffer from that.

I wonder if we should keep only encrypt/decrypt_with_backend methods to force users to properly handle block cipher implementations with multiple backends selected at runtime.

@newpavlov newpavlov merged commit 176efb8 into master Jan 30, 2026
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@newpavlov newpavlov deleted the cipher/rm_padded branch January 30, 2026 21:26
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tarcieri commented Jan 30, 2026

I'll say it's a little strange our block cipher traits don't provide the API typically provided by block ciphers whatsoever, but only somewhat arcane performance-oriented APIs

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newpavlov commented Jan 31, 2026

Ok, let's keep them. But I think I will add a warning to the method docs about the potential inefficiency around backend selection at runtime.

@tarcieri tarcieri mentioned this pull request Feb 4, 2026
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tarcieri added a commit that referenced this pull request Feb 4, 2026
@tarcieri
cipher v0.5.0 (#2281)
61a9586 
### Added
- Traits for tweakable block ciphers (#1721)
- Methods for writing keystream (#1907)

### Changed
- Replaced `generic-array` with `hybrid-array` (#1358)
- Rename `BlockCipher*`/`BlockMode*` (#1482)
  - `BlockEncrypt` => `BlockCipherEncrypt`
  - `BlockDecrypt` => `BlockCipherDecrypt`
  - `BlockEncryptMut` => `BlockModeEncrypt`
  - `BlockDecryptMut` => `BlockModeDecrypt`
- Split `BlockBackend` traits into 4 specific traits: (#1636)
  - `BlockCipherEncBackend`
  - `BlockCipherDecBackend`
  - `BlockModeEncBackend`
  - `BlockModeDecBackend`
- Edition changed to 2024 and MSRV bumped to 1.85 (#1759)
- Use `block_buffer::ReadBuffer` in `StreamCipherCoreWrapper` (#1959)
- Re-export of `crypto-common` moved to `cipher::common` (#2237, #2260)
- `crypto-common` dependency bumped to v0.2 (#2276)
- `blobby` requirement bumped to v0.4 (#2147)
- `inout` dependency bumped to v0.2.2 (#2149)

### Fixed
- Bugs in `StreamCipherCoreWrapper` trait implementations (#1421)
- Seeking implementation in the stream cipher wrapper (#2052)

### Removed
- `std` feature (#1691)
- `BlockCipherEncrypt::encrypt_padded*` and
`BlockCipherDecrypt::decrypt_padded*` methods.
Users of the ECB mode should use the `ecb-mode` crate instead. (#2245)
- `AsyncStreamCipher` trait (#2280)
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cipher: simplify BlockCipherEncrypt/Decrypt traits?

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@newpavlov @tarcieri