MKPASSWD-EXPECT(1)

🎀 MKPASSWD-EXPECT(1) 🎀

okay so bestie, welcome to the General Commands Manual entry for mkpasswd-expect 💖 this is the whole thing, no skips, we're doing it.

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✨ NAME ✨

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

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

mkpasswd-expect [ args ] [ user ]

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🦋 INTRODUCTION 🦋

mkpasswd-expect generates passwords, and it can also go ahead and apply them automatically to users. like, it does the whole thing for you, no cap 💅

fun fact that you're gonna want for the lore: mkpasswd-expect is based on the code from Chapter 23 of the O'Reilly book "Exploring Expect". yes, that Expect. we're academic girlies today 🔥

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💜 USAGE 💜

With no arguments, mkpasswd-expect just returns a new password. that's it. that's the whole interaction.

mkpasswd-expect

With a user name, mkpasswd-expect assigns a new password to the user. main character behaviour honestly 👑

mkpasswd-expect don

and the way the passwords get made?? they are randomly generated according to the flags below. so let's get into the flags ⬇️

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🍓 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.

ngl bestie, read that one twice 💀 the whole point is anti-shoulder-surfing, but it lowkey hands the guessing programs a little assist too. tradeoffs, we love to see them 🙈

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

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🌈 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

periodt. that's the vibe ✨

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• "Exploring Expect: A Tcl-Based Toolkit for Automating Interactive Programs" by Don Libes, O'Reilly and Associates, January 1995.

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👑 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.

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so that's the whole page, bestie, we ate and left no crumbs 🫶 this was the MKPASSWD-EXPECT(1) page, dated 22 August 1994 — yeah she's a vintage icon and she still slays 💅✨🎀