Monday 9 January 2012

pwgen - Generate random passwords on Linux

There's a useful package in Debian/Ubuntu called pwgen, which allows you to generate random, human pronouncable (this is moot) passwords.

It works simply by running the 'pwgen' binary:

$ pwgen Teboo0sh Rahz3Jee aeWae1mn isheL9oo Ahbubo6o fie7ow7L eij3Re0i ieCheh2A oSae0pah uGu1Co0k Pa0PhieZ riope6Ie IeC6aiYi zie4Yahx Yoh0quae yab2iCae Ooqu2wei chel2ohG EeSh5jok hoxoZa7o He8gaale gao6EiSh Uo8loh1b Phie2gie Ehei7ais yeicoo4Z Een1ohcu duZ9ook6 aQuu3wei YuW4gaen soh8ueCh Phohwai5 bi9bu4Li ieWah7ae Aip5Ohv0 lieM1aiG raeF6voe Fooduo9a pohqu3Da Ahn0iRio Uwaech6U ne8Quu9b AhV3oNee zieG1thi Shai1Chu Zae0pie1 aet1geFe Ko8wi4go

It also comes with some useful options such as: -y which adds a random character to each password -N which allows you to specify the number of passwords generated (by default the entire terminal is filled up with passwords) -H which allows you to generate repeatable passwords by using a file and a piece of text to seed the random number generator You can install pwgen on Debian/Ubuntu using:

apt-get install pwgen

For a full list of options have a look at 'man pwgen'.

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