mkpasswd(1) [centos man page]
MKPASSWD(1) General Commands Manual MKPASSWD(1) NAME
mkpasswd - generate new password, optionally apply it to a user SYNOPSIS
mkpasswd [ args ] [ user ] INTRODUCTION
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". USAGE
With no arguments, mkpasswd returns a new password. mkpasswd With a user name, mkpasswd assigns a new password to the user. mkpasswd 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 -l 20 The -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 -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 minimum number of uppercase alphabetic characters that must be in the password. The default is 2. The -s flag defines the minimum 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 at least 3 digits and 5 uppercase characters. mkpasswd -l 15 -d 3 -C 5 SEE ALSO
"Exploring Expect: A Tcl-Based Toolkit for Automating Interactive Programs" by Don Libes, O'Reilly and Associates, January 1995. AUTHOR
Don Libes, National Institute of Standards and Technology mkpasswd is in the public domain. NIST and I would appreciate credit if this program or parts of it are used. 22 August 1994 MKPASSWD(1)
Check Out this Related Man Page
PASSMASS(1) General Commands Manual PASSMASS(1) NAME
passmass - change password on multiple machines SYNOPSIS
passmass [ host1 host2 host3 ... ] INTRODUCTION
Passmass changes a password on multiple machines. If you have accounts on several machines that do not share password databases, Passmass can help you keep them all in sync. This, in turn, will make it easier to change them more frequently. When Passmass runs, it asks you for the old and new passwords. (If you are changing root passwords and have equivalencing, the old pass- word is not used and may be omitted.) Passmass understands the "usual" conventions. Additional arguments may be used for tuning. They affect all hosts which follow until another argument overrides it. For example, if you are known as "libes" on host1 and host2, but "don" on host3, you would say: passmass host1 host2 -user don host3 Arguments are: -user User whose password will be changed. By default, the current user is used. -rlogin Use rlogin to access host. (default) -slogin Use slogin to access host. -ssh Use ssh to access host. -telnet Use telnet to access host. -program Next argument is a program to run to set the password. Default is "passwd". Other common choices are "yppasswd" and "set passwd" (e.g., VMS hosts). A program name such as "password fred" can be used to create entries for new accounts (when run as root). -prompt Next argument is a prompt suffix pattern. This allows the script to know when the shell is prompting. The default is "# " for root and "% " for non-root accounts. -timeout Next argument is the number of seconds to wait for responses. Default is 30 but some systems can be much slower logging in. -su Next argument is 1 or 0. If 1, you are additionally prompted for a root password which is used to su after logging in. root's password is changed rather than the user's. This is useful for hosts which do not allow root to log in. HOW TO USE
The best way to run Passmass is to put the command in a one-line shell script or alias. Whenever you get a new account on a new machine, add the appropriate arguments to the command. Then run it whenever you want to change your passwords on all the hosts. CAVEATS
Using the same password on multiple hosts carries risks. In particular, if the password can be stolen, then all of your accounts are at risk. Thus, you should not use Passmass in situations where your password is visible, such as across a network which hackers are known to eavesdrop. On the other hand, if you have enough accounts with different passwords, you may end up writing them down somewhere - and that can be a security problem. Funny story: my college roommate had an 11"x13" piece of paper on which he had listed accounts and passwords all across the Internet. This was several years worth of careful work and he carried it with him everywhere he went. Well one day, he forgot to remove it from his jeans, and we found a perfectly blank sheet of paper when we took out the wash the following day! SEE ALSO
"Exploring Expect: A Tcl-Based Toolkit for Automating Interactive Programs" by Don Libes, O'Reilly and Associates, January 1995. AUTHOR
Don Libes, National Institute of Standards and Technology 7 October 1993 PASSMASS(1)