MKPASSWD-EXPECT

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: 22 August 1994
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NAME

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

SYNOPSIS

mkpasswd-expect [ args ] [ user ]

INTRODUCTION

mkpasswd-expect generates passwords and can apply them automatically to users. mkpasswd-expect is based on the code from Chapter 23 of the O'Reilly book "Exploring Expect".

USAGE

With no arguments, mkpasswd-expect returns a new password.

mkpasswd-expect

With a user name, mkpasswd-expect assigns a new password to the user.

mkpasswd-expect don

The passwords are randomly generated according to the flags below.

FLAGS

The -l flag defines the length of the password. The default is 9. The following example creates a 20 character password.

mkpasswd-expect -l 20

The -d flag defines the number of digits that must be in the password. The default is 2. The following example creates a password with 3 digits.

mkpasswd-expect -d 3

The -c flag defines the minimum number of lowercase alphabetic characters that must be in the password. The default is 2.

The -C flag defines the number of uppercase alphabetic characters that must be in the password. The default is 2.

The -s flag defines the number of special characters that must be in the password. The default is 1.

The -p flag names a program to set the password. By default, /etc/yppasswd is used if present, otherwise /bin/passwd is used.

The -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 -v flag causes the password-setting interaction to be visible. By default, it is suppressed.

EXAMPLE

The following example creates a 15-character password that contains 3 digits and 5 uppercase characters.

mkpasswd-expect -l 15 -d 3 -C 5

AUTHOR

Don Libes, National Institute of Standards and Technology

mkpasswd-expect is in the public domain. NIST and I would appreciate credit if this program or parts of it are used.