.\" Man page for apg.
.\" Licensed under BSD-like License.
.\" Created by Adel I. Mirzazhanov
.\"
.TH APG 1 "2003 Aug 04" "Automated Password Generator" "User Manual"
.SH NAME
apg
\- generates several random passwords

.SH SYNOPSIS
.B apg
[\fB-a algorithm\fP] [\fB-M mode\fP] [\fB-E char_string\fP]
[\fB-n num_of_pass\fP] [\fB-m min_pass_len\fP] [\fB-x max_pass_len\fP]
[\fB-r\fP \fIdictfile\fP] [\fB-b\fP \fIfilter_file\fP] [\fB-p min_substr_len\fP]
[\fB-s\fP] [\fB-c cl_seed\fP] [\fB-d\fP] [\fB-y\fP] [\fB-l\fP] [\fB-t\fP]
[\fB-q\fP] [\fB-h\fP] [\fB-v\fP]
.PP
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B apg
generates several random passwords. It uses several password generation
algorithms (currently two) and a built-in pseudo random number generator.
.PP
Default algorithm is pronounceable password generation algorithm
designed by
.B Morrie Gasser
and described in
.B "A Random Word Generator For Pronounceable Passwords"
.I National Technical Information Service (NTIS)
.B AD-A-017676.
The original paper is very old and had never been put online,
so I have to use
.I NIST
implementation described in 
.B FIPS-181.
.PP
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 (#,@,!,...).
.PP
Built-in pseudo random number generator is an implementation of algorithm
described in
.B Appendix C of ANSI X9.17
or
.B RFC 1750
with exception that it uses
.I CAST
or
.I SHA-1
instead of
.I Triple DES.
It uses local time with precision of microseconds (see
\fBgettimeofday\fP(2)) and \fI/dev/random\fP (if available) to produce
initial random seed.
.PP
.B apg
also have the ability to check generated password quality using
dictionary. You can use this ability if you specify command-line options
.B -r
.I dictfile
or
.B -b
.I filtername
where \fIdictfile\fP is the dictionary file name and \fIfiltername\fP 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
.I dictionary password crackers.
Bloom filter file should be created with \fBapgbfm\fP(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.
.sp
.SH "OPTIONS"
.SS "Password generation modes options"
.TP
.B -a algorithm
Use
.B algorithm
for password generation.
.RS
.B 0
- pronounceable password generation (default)
.br
.B 1
- random character password generation
.RE
.TP
.B -n num_of_pass
Generate
.B num_of_pass
number of passwords. Default is 6.
.TP
.B -m min_pass_len
Generate password with minimum length
.B min_pass_len.
If \fBmin_pass_len > max_pass_len\fP then \fBmax_pass_len = min_pass_len\fP.
Default minimum password length is 8.
.TP
.B -x max_pass_len
Generate password with maximum length
.B max_pass_len.
If \fBmin_pass_len > max_pass_len\fP then \fBmax_pass_len = min_pass_len\fP.
Default maximum password length is 10.
.TP
.B -M mode
Use symbolsets specified with \fBmode\fP for password generation.
\fBmode\fP is a text string consisting of characters \fBS\fP, \fBs\fP, \fBN\fP, \fBn\fP,
\fBC\fP, \fBc\fP, \fBL\fP, \fBl\fP. Where:
.RS
.TP
.B S
Generator \fBmust\fP use special symbol set for every generated password.
.TP
.B s
Generator \fBshould\fP use special symbol set for password generation.
.TP
.B N
Generator \fBmust\fP use numeral symbol set for every generated password.
.TP
.B n
Generator \fBshould\fP use numeral symbol set for password generation.
.TP
.B C
Generator \fBmust\fP use capital symbol set for every generated password.
.TP
.B c
Generator \fBshould\fP use capital symbol set for password generation.
.TP
.B L
Generator \fBmust\fP use small letters symbol set for every generated password
(always present if pronounceable password
generation algorithm is used).
.TP
.B l
Generator \fBshould\fP use small letters symbol set for password generation.
.TP
.B R,r
Not supported any more. Use \fB-E char_string\fP option instead.
.RE
.RS
.br
\fBmode\fP can not be more than 4 characters in
length.
.PP
.B Note:
.br
Usage of L, M, S, C will slow down password generation process.
.PP
.B Examples:
.br
\fB-M sncl\fP
.br
\fB-M SNCL\fP
.br
\fB-M Cn\fP
.RE
.TP
.B -E char_string
Exclude characters in \fBchar_string\fP 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 \fBchar_string\fP use
the backslashed versions.
.RS
.PP
.B Examples:
.PP
Command \fBapg -a 1 -M n -n 3 -m 8 -E 23456789\fP will generate a set of passwords that
will look like this:
.br
\fB10100110\fP
.br
\fB01111000\fP
.br
\fB11011101\fP
.br
.PP
Command \fBapg -a 1 -M nc -n 3 -m 26 -E GHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ\fP will generate a set of passwords
that will look like this:
.br
\fB16A1653CD4DE5E7BD9584A3476\fP
.br
\fBC8F78E06944AFD57FB9CB882BC\fP
.br
\fB8C8DF37CD792D36D056BBD5002\fP
.br
.RE
.SS "Password quality control options"
.TP
.B -r \fIdictfile\fP
Check generated passwords for their appearance in
.I dictfile
.TP
.B -b \fIfilter_file\fP
Check generated passwords for their appearance in
\fIfilter_file\fP. \fIfilter_file\fP should be created with the \fBapgbfm\fP(1)
utility.
.TP
.B -p min_substr_len
This option tells \fBapg\fP(1) to check every substring of the generated
password for appearance in \fIfilter_file\fP. If any of such substrings would
be found in the \fIfilter_file\fP then generated password would be rejected
and apg(1) will generate another one.
\fBmin_substr_len\fP specifies minimum substring length to check.
This option is active only if \fB-b\fP option is defined.
.SS "Pseudo random number generator options"
.TP
.B -s
Ask user for random sequence for password generation
.TP
.B -c cl_seed
Use
.B cl_seed
as a random seed for password generation. I use it when i have to generate
passwords in a shell script.
.RS
.B Examples:
.br
\fB-c /dev/urandom\fP
.br
\fB-c /tmp/seed_file\fP
.RE
.SS "Password output options"
.br
.TP
.B -d
Do NOT use any delimiters between generated passwords. I use it when i have to generate
passwords in a shell script.
.TP
.B -y
Print generated passwords and crypted passwords (see \fBcrypt\fP(3))
.TP
.B -q
Quiet mode (do not print warnings)
.TP
.B -l
Spell generated passwords. Useful when you want to read generated password by telephone.
.RS
.B WARNING:
Think twice before read your password by phone.
.RE
.TP
.B -t
Print pronunciation for generated pronounceable password. Ignored if \fB-a 1\fP is set.
.TP
.B -h
Print help information and exit
.TP
.B -v
Print version information and exit
.SH "DEFAULT OPTIONS"
\fBapg -a 0 -M sncl -n 6 -x 10 -m 8\fP (new style)
.PP
If you want to generate really secure passwords,
you should use option \fB-s\fP. To simplify
.B apg
usage, you can write a small shell script. For example:
.br
\fB[begin]----> pwgen.sh\fP
.br
\fB#!/bin/sh\fP
.br
\fB/usr/local/bin/apg -m 8 -x 12 -s\fP
.br
\fB[ end ]----> pwgen.sh\fP
.SH "EXIT CODE"
On successful completion of its task,
.B 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.
.SH "DIAGNOSTICS"
If \fI/dev/random\fP is not available, \fBapg\fP will display a
message about it.
.SH "FILES"
.B None.
.SH "BUGS"
.B None.
If you've found one, please send bug description to the author.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
\fBapgbfm\fP(1)
.SH "AUTHOR"
Adel I. Mirzazhanov, <a-del@iname.com>
.br
Project home page: http://www.adel.nursat.kz/apg/