STRING2KEY(8)

✨ STRING2KEY(8) ✨

okay so bestie, we're in the System Manager's Manual section of your life now, and today's main character is string2key 💅 it lives in section 8, it's part of the Heimdal squad, and it has exactly one job: turning your password into a raw key. no cap.

🎀 NAME 🎀

string2key — map a password into a key

like. that's it. that's the whole vibe. a password goes in, a key comes out. iconic behavior fr fr 🔑

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

string2key [-5 | --version5] [-4 | --version4] [-a | --afs] [-c cell |
           --cell=cell] [-w password | --password=password] [-p
           principal | --principal=principal] [-k string |
           --keytype=string] password

see how there's a password hanging out at the very end with no dashes in front of it? that one's not a flag, bestie, that's the actual password you're feeding in. the rest are all dressed up in dashes. we love a dress code 💖

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so string2key performs the string-to-key function. the whole point of this little cutie is that it's useful when you want to handle the raw key instead of the password itself — like, you're skipping the middleman, you're going straight to the source, very direct, very efficient, we stan 😌

here's everything it supports, one by one, no gatekeeping:

💜 Supported options 💜

• -5, --version5 — outputs the Kerberos v5 string-to-key. the newer flavor ✨
• -4, --version4 — outputs the Kerberos v4 string-to-key. the classic. retro. vintage. still valid, still serving 🌈
• -a, --afs — outputs the AFS string-to-key. different system, different key, same energy 🫶
• -c cell, --cell=cell — the AFS cell to use. tell it which cell you're repping 🎀
• -w password, --password=password — the password to use. yeah, there's a flag for it and a positional argument for it. both exist. don't ask me to pick a favorite, I love all my children equally 💀
• -p principal, --principal=principal — the Kerberos v5 principal to use. gotta know whose key we're cooking up 👑
• -k string, --keytype=string — the keytype. that's the whole description. it's giving mysterious. it's giving cryptic. it's giving exactly what the original says so I'm not gonna invent extra lore for you 🙈
• --version — prints the version. cute, brief, to the point ⭐
• --help — and the original manpage literally stops right there with nothing after it. no description. nothing. the silence is deafening bestie 😭

heads up: that's genuinely the full list from the page — I'm not hiding any bonus flags from you, and I'm definitely not making any up. if it's not written above, it doesn't exist. no cap 🫡

💌 the sign-off 💌

this gorgeous piece of documentation came to you courtesy of HEIMDAL, dated March 4, 2000 — yes, the year 2000, and it's still out here explaining string-to-key like the timeless queen it is 👑💖

okay bye bestie, go turn some passwords into keys, you're gonna do amazing, mwah 😘✨