From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jun 12 01:52:20 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 18E701065686 for ; Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:52:20 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from frank@esperance-linux.co.uk) Received: from mailout.zetnet.co.uk (mailout.zetnet.co.uk [194.247.47.231]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 978228FC1E for ; Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:52:19 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from frank@esperance-linux.co.uk) Received: from irwell.zetnet.co.uk ([194.247.47.48] helo=zetnet.co.uk) by mailout.zetnet.co.uk with esmtp (Exim 4.63) (envelope-from ) id 1K6bz5-0003eP-3J; Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:52:15 +0100 Received: from melon.esperance-linux.co.uk (54-144.adsl.zetnet.co.uk [194.247.54.144]) by zetnet.co.uk (8.14.1/8.14.1/Debian-9) with ESMTP id m5C1qEo5008438; Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:52:14 +0100 Received: by melon.esperance-linux.co.uk (Postfix, from userid 1001) id BA912FCABAF; Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:51:46 +0100 (BST) Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:51:46 +0100 From: Frank Shute To: Andrew Berry Message-ID: <20080612015146.GA3875@melon.esperance-linux.co.uk> Mail-Followup-To: Andrew Berry , z.szalbot@lc-words.com, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <484F7CBE.5060401@lc-words.com> <48501F44.3010606@sentex.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <48501F44.3010606@sentex.net> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.3i X-Face: *}~{PHnDTzvXPe'wl_-f%!@+r5; VLhb':*DsX%wEOPg\fDrXWQJf|2\,92"DdS%63t*BHDyQ|OWo@Gfjcd72eaN!4%NE{0]p)ihQ1MyFNtWL X-Operating-System: FreeBSD 6.3-RELEASE-p2 i386 X-Organisation: 'Esperance Linux' X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-3.0 (zetnet.co.uk [194.247.46.1]); Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:52:14 +0100 (BST) Cc: z.szalbot@lc-words.com, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: generating random passwords X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Frank Shute List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:52:20 -0000 On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 02:53:56PM -0400, Andrew Berry wrote: > > Zbigniew Szalbot wrote: > > >Hello, > > > >Excuse me my ignorance. Is there a utility in FreeBSD that would allow > >me to generate random passwords without actually creating any accounts > >or modifying existing ones? I am looking for something to allow me to > >generate a random string of characters. I know I can randomly hit the > >keyboard but if anything like that exists, many thanks for your > >advice. :) > > > >Best regards, > > I've used pwgen from ports. It sounds similar to the other suggestions. > I like sysutils/pwgen too. In it's default state it will give a screenful of semi-pronounceable passwords from which you pick one. It can also be used in a shell script to generate single passwords. Having the password semi-pronounceable avoids the sticky-note problem to a large extent as they're easy to learn. Can also generate gibberish, if that's your choice. Widely tunable. For password containment i.e all my online passwords, I use a shell script with gpg and a strong password. So in theory, I only have to remember my user login and the password for gpg. In practice, I remember a few more that I use regularly. Regards, -- Frank Contact info: http://www.shute.org.uk/misc/contact.html