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Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers UNIX fun stuff - echo and dc - obfuscate/garble a string sort of Post 302938409 by Don Cragun on Monday 16th of March 2015 01:22:34 AM
Old 03-16-2015
First: Note that:
Code:
dc <<EOF | echo
obfuscated string
EOF

produces exactly the same output as:
Code:
echo

The echo utility doesn't read arguments from standard input; it reads arguments from its argument list.

Second: If you're going to email a new password to your users, sending it to them in clear text and sending it to them with instructions saying something like:
Quote:
You can see your new password by executing the command:
echo 'obfuscated string' | dc
are equivalent. Anyone who intercepts that message will be able to run the command to produce the clear text just as easily as the user to whom the e-mail was addressed.

Third: If you send the obfuscated password and the way to turn it into plain text in separate e-mails, you have a better chance of keeping the clear text hidden. But if one e-mail message has been intercepted, there is no reason to believe that another message (containing the way to turn the obfuscated password into clear text) will not also be intercepted.

Fourth: You would be MUCH better off providing a secure method for the user to retrieve their password by distributing the new password:
  • in person (verifying employee IDs if you don't know your users),
  • providing a secure website (requiring the old password to get the new password), or
  • by a secure method of distributing hard copy of the new password (such as registered US snail mail).
This User Gave Thanks to Don Cragun For This Post:
 

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PHP_UNAME(3)								 1							      PHP_UNAME(3)

php_uname - Returns information about the operating system PHP is running on

SYNOPSIS
string php_uname ([string $mode = "a"]) DESCRIPTION
php_uname(3) returns a description of the operating system PHP is running on. This is the same string you see at the very top of the phpinfo(3) output. For the name of just the operating system, consider using the PHP_OS constant, but keep in mind this constant will con- tain the operating system PHP was built on. On some older UNIX platforms, it may not be able to determine the current OS information in which case it will revert to displaying the OS PHP was built on. This will only happen if your uname() library call either doesn't exist or doesn't work. PARAMETERS
o $mode -$mode is a single character that defines what information is returned: o 'a': This is the default. Contains all modes in the sequence "s n r v m". o 's': Operating system name. eg. FreeBSD. o 'n': Host name. eg. localhost.example.com. o 'r': Release name. eg. 5.1.2-RELEASE. o 'v': Version information. Varies a lot between operating systems. o 'm': Machine type. eg. i386. RETURN VALUES
Returns the description, as a string. EXAMPLES
Example #1 Some php_uname(3) examples <?php echo php_uname(); echo PHP_OS; /* Some possible outputs: Linux localhost 2.4.21-0.13mdk #1 Fri Mar 14 15:08:06 EST 2003 i686 Linux FreeBSD localhost 3.2-RELEASE #15: Mon Dec 17 08:46:02 GMT 2001 FreeBSD Windows NT XN1 5.1 build 2600 WINNT */ if (strtoupper(substr(PHP_OS, 0, 3)) === 'WIN') { echo 'This is a server using Windows!'; } else { echo 'This is a server not using Windows!'; } ?> There are also some related Predefined PHP constants that may come in handy, for example: Example #2 A few OS related constant examples <?php // *nix echo DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR; // / echo PHP_SHLIB_SUFFIX; // so echo PATH_SEPARATOR; // : // Win* echo DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR; // echo PHP_SHLIB_SUFFIX; // dll echo PATH_SEPARATOR; // ; ?> SEE ALSO
phpversion(3), php_sapi_name(3), phpinfo(3). PHP Documentation Group PHP_UNAME(3)
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