apg - generates several random passwords

       Adel I. Mirzazhanov, <a-del@iname.com>
       Project home page: http://www.adel.nursat.kz/apg/

Automated Password Generator                       2003 Aug 04                                            APG(1)

None.  If you've found one, please send bug description to the author.

apg-a0-Msncl-n6-x10-m8 (new style)

       If you want to generate really secure passwords, you should use option -s. To simplify apg usage, you can
       write a small shell script. For example:
       [begin]---->pwgen.sh#!/bin/sh/usr/local/bin/apg-m8-x12-s[end]---->pwgen.sh

apg generates several random passwords. It uses several password generation  algorithms  (currently  two)
       and a built-in pseudo random number generator.

       Default  algorithm is pronounceable password generation algorithm designed by MorrieGasser and described
       in ARandomWordGeneratorForPronounceablePasswordsNationalTechnicalInformationService(NTIS)AD-A-017676.   The  original  paper  is  very  old  and  had  never  been  put online, so I have to use NIST
       implementation described in FIPS-181.

       Another algorithm is simple random character generation algorithm, but it uses four  user-defined  symbol
       sets  to  produce  random  password.  It means that user can choose type of symbols that should appear in
       password. Symbol sets are: numeric symbol set (0,...,9), capital  letters  symbol  set  (A,...,Z),  small
       letters symbol set (a,...,z) and special symbols symbol set (#,@,!,...).

       Built-in pseudo random number generator is an implementation of algorithm described in AppendixCofANSIX9.17  or  RFC1750 with exception that it uses CAST or SHA-1 instead of TripleDES.  It uses local time
       with precision of microseconds (see gettimeofday(2)) and /dev/random (if available)  to  produce  initial
       random seed.

       apg  also have the ability to check generated password quality using dictionary. You can use this ability
       if you specify command-line options -rdictfile or -bfiltername where dictfile is  the  dictionary  file
       name  and  filtername  is  the name of Bloom filter file. In that dictionary you may place words (one per
       line) that should not appear as generated passwords. For example: user names, common words, etc. You even
       can use one of the dictionaries that come with dictionarypasswordcrackers.  Bloom filter file should be
       created with apgbfm(1) utility included in apg distribution. In future releases I plan to implement  some
       other techniques to check passwords (like pattern check) just to make life easier.

       If /dev/random is not available, apg will display a message about it.

       On  successful  completion of its task, apg will complete with exit code 0.  An exit code of -1 indicates
       an error occurred.  Textual errors are written to the standard error stream.

None.

       apg - generates several random passwords

Passwordgenerationmodesoptions-aalgorithm
              Use algorithm for password generation.
              0 - pronounceable password generation (default), see SECURITYCAVEATS below
              1 - random character password generation

       -nnum_of_pass
              Generate num_of_pass number of passwords. Default is 6.

       -mmin_pass_len
              Generate  password  with  minimum  length  min_pass_len.   If  min_pass_len>max_pass_len  then
              max_pass_len=min_pass_len.  Default minimum password length is 8.

       -xmax_pass_len
              Generate  password  with  maximum  length  max_pass_len.   If  min_pass_len>max_pass_len  then
              max_pass_len=min_pass_len.  Default maximum password length is 10.

       -Mmode
              Use  symbolsets  specified with mode for password generation.  mode is a text string consisting of
              characters S, s, N, n, C, c, L, l (see SECURITYCAVEATS below). Where:

              S      Generator must use special symbol set for every generated password.

              s      Generator should use special symbol set for password generation.

              N      Generator must use numeral symbol set for every generated password.

              n      Generator should use numeral symbol set for password generation.

              C      Generator must use capital symbol set for every generated password.

              c      Generator should use capital symbol set for password generation.

              L      Generator must use small letters symbol set for every generated password (always present if
                     pronounceable password generation algorithm is used).

              l      Generator should use small letters symbol set for password generation.

              R,r    Not supported any more. Use -Echar_string option instead.
              mode can not be more than 4 characters in length.

              Note:
              Usage of L, M, S, C will slow down password generation process.

              Examples:-Msncl-MSNCL-MCn-Echar_string
              Exclude characters in char_string from password  generation  process  (in  pronounceable  password
              generation  mode  you  can  not  exclude  small  letters).  To include special symbols that can be
              recognized by shell (apostrophe, quotes, dollar sign, etc.) in  char_string  use  the  backslashed
              versions.

              Examples:

              Command  apg-a1-Mn-n3-m8-E23456789 will generate a set of passwords that will look like
              this:
              101001100111100011011101

              Command apg-a1-Mnc-n3-m26-EGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ will generate a set  of  passwords  that
              will look like this:
              16A1653CD4DE5E7BD9584A3476C8F78E06944AFD57FB9CB882BC8C8DF37CD792D36D056BBD5002Passwordqualitycontroloptions-rdictfile
              Check generated passwords for their appearance in dictfile-bfilter_file
              Check  generated passwords for their appearance in filter_file. filter_file should be created with
              the apgbfm(1) utility.

       -pmin_substr_len
              This option tells apg(1) to check every substring of the  generated  password  for  appearance  in
              filter_file.  If  any of such substrings would be found in the filter_file then generated password
              would be rejected  and  apg(1)  will  generate  another  one.   min_substr_len  specifies  minimum
              substring length to check.  This option is active only if -b option is defined.

   Pseudorandomnumbergeneratoroptions-s     Ask user for random sequence for password generation

       -ccl_seed
              Use  cl_seed  as a random seed for password generation. I use it when i have to generate passwords
              in a shell script.
              Examples:-c/dev/urandom-c/tmp/seed_filePasswordoutputoptions-d     Do NOT use any delimiters between generated passwords. I use it when i have to generate  passwords
              in a shell script.

       -y     Print generated passwords and crypted passwords (see crypt(3))

       -q     Quiet mode (do not print warnings)

       -l     Spell generated passwords. Useful when you want to read generated password by telephone.
              WARNING: Think twice before read your password by phone.

       -t     Print pronunciation for generated pronounceable password. Ignored if -a1 is set.

       -h     Print help information and exit

       -v     Print version information and exit

apg is no longer maintained upstream. Alternatives include pwgen, diceware and xkcdpass.

       In particular, pronouncable passwords may be prone to various attacks and enforcing the  use  of  certain
       symbolsets (via the S, N, C and Lmodes of the -M option) might even simplify attacking the password.
       See Debian bug #987952.

apgbfm(1)

apg  [-aalgorithm]  [-Mmode] [-Echar_string] [-nnum_of_pass] [-mmin_pass_len] [-xmax_pass_len] [-rdictfile] [-bfilter_file] [-pmin_substr_len] [-s] [-ccl_seed] [-d] [-y] [-l] [-t] [-q] [-h] [-v]