dave@lsuc.uucp (David Sherman) (03/02/88)
Back in 1985 I posted "genp" to net.sources. This is a little
utility for generating gibberish but pronounceable passwords.
We use it here when creating accounts for 1,100 students every year.
Scanning the Usenix distribution tape tar list the other day, I noticed
"Utilities/Genp". Lo and behold, it's the same program, complete
with the text of my article to net.sources (<325@lsuc.UUCP>, 24 Jan 85).
But some joker has mucked up the source. They've added punctuation, numbers
and upper case, all of which go against the whole point of making the
passwords pronounceable. And, for some peculiar reason, they've added
the LITERAL strings "consonant", "punctuation", "vowel" and "number"
to the list of consonants, so you now get passwords like
punctuation#ayzeconsonantUu
(I kid you not -- I just got this one). Real Bright.
Thankfully, the original source is in genp.c- in the same directory.
I certainly don't want *my* name associated with the junk in genp.c,
and the person who changed it didn't bother to add his/her name.
If you have the Usenix distribution tape and are doing anything
with the utilities, please do the following:
cd Utilities/Genp
mv genp.c genp.somejoker
mv genp.c- genp.c
Thank you. (If anyone uses genp, I'd be interested in hearing about it.)
David Sherman
The Law Society of Upper Canada
Toronto
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{ uunet!mnetor pyramid!utai decvax!utcsri ihnp4!utzoo } !lsuc!davedecot@hpisod2.HP.COM (Dave Decot) (03/03/88)
> Scanning the Usenix distribution tape tar list the other day, I noticed > "Utilities/Genp". Lo and behold, it's the same program, complete > with the text of my article to net.sources (<325@lsuc.UUCP>, 24 Jan 85). > But some joker has mucked up the source. They've added punctuation, numbers > and upper case, all of which go against the whole point of making the > passwords pronounceable. This is presumably to make genp useful by non-superusers on System V systems. There, passwords must have "at least six digits" and contain at least one numeric or special character to be acceptable to the passwd(1) command. These requirements are basically intended to defeat pronounceable passwords. > And, for some peculiar reason, they've added > the LITERAL strings "consonant", "punctuation", "vowel" and "number" > to the list of consonants, so you now get passwords like > punctuation#ayzeconsonantUu > (I kid you not -- I just got this one). Real Bright. Surprisingly, System V does not require these to be in your password. :-) Dave Decot hpda!decot