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.TH MKPASSWD 1 "22 August 1994"

.SH NAME

mkpasswd \- generate new password, optionally apply it to a user

.SH SYNOPSIS

.B mkpasswd

.I

[

.I args

]

[

.I user

]

.SH INTRODUCTION

.B mkpasswd

generates passwords and can apply them automatically to users.

mkpasswd is based on the code from Chapter 23 of the O'Reilly book

"Exploring Expect".

.SH USAGE

With no arguments,

.B mkpasswd

returns a new password.

        mkpasswd

With a user name,

.B mkpasswd

assigns a new password to the user.

        mkpasswd don

The passwords are randomly generated according to the flags below.

.SH FLAGS

The

.B \-l

flag defines the length of the password.  The default is 9.

The following example creates a 20 character password.

        mkpasswd -l 20

The

.B \-d

flag defines the minimum number of digits that must be in the password.

The default is 2.  The following example creates a password with at least

3 digits.

        mkpasswd -d 3

The

.B \-c

flag defines the minimum number of lowercase alphabetic characters that must be in the password.

The default is 2.

The

.B \-C

flag defines the minimum number of uppercase alphabetic characters that must be in the password.

The default is 2.

The

.B \-p

flag names a program to set the password.

By default, /etc/yppasswd is used if present, otherwise /bin/passwd is used.

The

.B \-2

flag causes characters to be chosen so that they alternate between

right and left hands (qwerty-style), making it harder for anyone

watching passwords being entered.  This can also make it easier for

a password-guessing program.

The

.B \-v

flag causes the password-setting interaction to be visible.

By default, it is suppressed.

.SH EXAMPLE

The following example creates a 15-character password

that contains at least 3 digits and 5 uppercase characters.

        mkpasswd -l 15 -d 3 -C 5

.SH SEE ALSO

.I

"Exploring Expect: A Tcl-Based Toolkit for Automating Interactive Programs"

\fRby Don Libes,

O'Reilly and Associates, January 1995.

.SH AUTHOR

Don Libes, National Institute of Standards and Technology

.B mkpasswd

is in the public domain.

NIST and I would

appreciate credit if this program or parts of it are used.