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| -rw-r--r-- | posts/readable-random-passwords-with-jot.md | 26 |
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diff --git a/posts/readable-random-passwords-with-jot.md b/posts/readable-random-passwords-with-jot.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..20bfb44 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/readable-random-passwords-with-jot.md @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +--- +title: "Readable random passwords with jot" +description: "A BSD utility to generate strong passwords suitable for handwriting." +published: 2021-10-12 +--- + +My handwriting is hardly readable. +Without the context of words, several pairs of characters are almost indistguishable, e.g., *O* and *0*, *u* and *n*, or *1* and *l*. +Yet, I sometimes need to come up with and write down strong passwords to be deciphered by my future self, or some unlucky other person. +That's why I created a small script to generate random passwords specifically intended for handwriting. + +I called the script `jotpass` because it wraps the `jot(1)` utility shipped with [OpenBSD](https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-6.9/jot), [NetBSD](https://man.netbsd.org/NetBSD-9.2-STABLE/jot.1), [FreeBSD](https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=jot&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=FreeBSD+13.0-RELEASE&arch=default&format=html), and others. +By default, it prints a random sequence of 12 dash-separated groups of four unambiguous ASCII letters and digits each. +However, you can change the alphabet, the number and width of groups, and the separator as described in the [man page](/files/jotpass.1-0.1.0.html). +For example: + + $ jotpass + P6ji-4pRZ-Ze7m-q7Bp-Vpye-HCjr-hygF-6TwQ-oRJT-yx6p-SyMB-AwUm + + $ jotpass -a 0123456789abcdef -g 8 -w 2 -s ' ' -v + 49 1b 6e b0 e2 fc 16 b1 + The generated password has an entropy of 64 bits. + +You can download a standard release tarball [here](/files/jotpass-0.1.0.tar.gz). +The script targets OpenBSD, but it should work on other BSD variants alike. +Feel free to drop me a mail if you have any feedback. |