Index for Section 3

Alphabetical listing for R

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randomword(3)
NAME
  randomword, randomchars, randomletters - Generate random passwords
  (Enhanced Security)

SYNOPSIS
  int randomchars(
	  char *string,
	  unsigned short int minlen,
	  unsigned short int maxlen,
	  boolean restrict,
	  long seed );

  int randomletters(
	  char *string,
	  unsigned short int minlen,
	  unsigned short int maxlen,
	  boolean restrict,
	  long seed );

  int randomword(
	  char *word,
	  char *hyphenated_word,
	  unsigned short int minlen,
	  unsigned short int maxlen,
	  boolean restrict,
	  long seed );

LIBRARY
  Enhanced Security Library (libsecurity)

PARAMETERS
  string
      Points at a user-supplied space to contain a null-terminated password.

  minlen
      Specifies the minimum length that a generated word can have.

  maxlen
      Specifies the maximum length that a generated word can have.

  restrict
      Specifies whether restrictions are to be imposed on the generated word.
      This is a boolean integer, where a non-zero integer indications
      restrictions and a 0 (zero) indicates no restrictions.

  seed
      Specifies an initial seed for the random number generator.

  word
      Points at a user-supplied space to contain a null-terminated random
      pronounceable password.

  hyphenated_word
      Contains the hyphenated version of the generated word.

DESCRIPTION
  These functions generate random passwords for use in password selection.
  All of them are generated by the system, based on seeds and set in the
  function. Such seeds can be created with the drand48(), rand(), or random()
  functions.

  The randomchars() function places a null-terminated password composed of
  random printable ASCII characters into the string parameter and returns the
  length of the generated string.  The minlen and maxlen parameters denote
  the minimum and maximum lengths allowed for string.  The minlen parameter
  can equal maxlen, but cannot be greater than maxlen, and cannot be
  negative.  The user space preallocated is at least maxlen for string.	 The
  smaller minlen and maxlen are, the smaller the selection space of random
  words.

  The restrict parameter is 0 (zero) when no restrictions are placed on the
  generated word. It is nonzero when the words generated pass the tests of
  the acceptable_password() function. The seed argument specifies an initial
  seed for the random number generator used by randomchars().

  The seed parameter is used by the function only on the first time it is
  called; the parameter is ignored on subsequent calls.

  The randomletters() function places a null-terminated password composed of
  random lower-case letters into the string parameter and returns the length
  of the generated word. The minlen, maxlen, restrict, and seed parameters
  are the same as for the randomchars() function.

  The randomword() function places a null-terminated random pronounceable
  password into the word parameter and returns the length of the generated
  word. The hyphenated version of the word is placed in hyphenated_word. The
  minlen, maxlen, restrict, and seed parameters are the same as for the
  randomchars() and randomletters() functions. The user space preallocated is
  at least 2*max - 1 for hyphenated_word.

NOTES
  The password generator relies on a random number generator that produces
  uniformly distributed integers. Because the password generator invokes the
  random number generator many times even for one word, the random number
  generator has to produce a uniform distribution. The period (distinct
  numbers produced given a particular seed) and number space (range of
  possible numbers) must both be large. The drand48() functions are used for
  this purpose.

  Programs using these functions must be compiled with -lsecurity.

FILES
  /etc/passwd
      System password file.

  /etc/group
      System group file.

SEE ALSO
  Commands: login(1), passwd(1)

  Functions: acceptable_password(3), drand48(3), rand(3), random(3)

Index for Section 3

Alphabetical listing for R

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