.\" Man page for apgd.
.\" Licensed under BSD-like License.
.\" Created by Adel I. Mirzazhanov
.\"
.TH APGD 8 "2001 Jan 8" "Automated Password Generator" "User Manual"
.SH NAME
apgd
\- server that generates several random passwords

.SH SYNOPSIS
.B apgd
[\fB-r\fP \fIdictfile\fP]
[\fB-a algorithm\fP] [\fB-C\fP] [\fB-L\fP] [\fB-S\fP] [\fB-N\fP]
[\fB-m min_pass_len\fP] [\fB-x max_pass_len\fP] [\fB-n num_of_pass\fP]
.PP
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B apgd
program is a server that supports
.B "Password Generation Protocol"
described in
.B RFC972.
It uses several password generation algorithms (currently two) and a built-in
pseudo random number generator.
.PP
.B apgd
is normally invoked by the Internet superserver (see 
.B inetd
(8))  for requests to connect to the pwdgen port (pwdgen port is 129 according to
.B RFC1700
) as indicated by the
.I /etc/services
file (see
.B services
(5)).
.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
.I (0,...,9)
, capital letters symbol set
.I (A,...,Z)
, small letters symbol set
.I (a,...,z)
and special symbols symbol set
.I (#,@,!,...).
.PP
Built-in pseudo random number generator is an implementation of algorithm
described in
.B Appendix C of ANSI X9.17
or
.B RFC1750
with exception that it uses
.I CAST
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 apgd
also have the ability to check generated password quality using
dictionary. You can use this ability if you specify command-line option
.B -r
.I dictfile
where \fIdictfile\fP is dictionary file name. 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.
This check is case sensitive. For example, if you want to reject word 'root',
you should insert in \fIdictfile\fP words: root, Root, RoOt, ... , ROOT.
It is not the easiest way to check password quality, but
it is the most powerful way. In future releases I plan to implement some other
techniques to check passwords just to make life easier.
.PP
.B apgd
has the ability log user password generation activity and internal debug information. It does this
using
.br
.I facility
=
.I daemon
.RS
.br
.I priority
=
.I info
for user password generation activity logging
.br
.I priority
=
.I debug
for internal debug information
.br
.RE
See the \fBsyslogd\fP(8) and \fBsyslog.conf\fP(5) man pages for information on how to configure your syslog daemon.
.sp
.SH "OPTIONS"
.TP
.B -M mode
Use symbolsets specified with \fBmode\fP for password generation.
\fBmode\fP is a text string consisting of characters \fBS[s]\fP, \fBN[n]\fP,
\fBC[c]\fP, \fBL[l]\fP,\fBR[r]\fP. Where:
.RS
.TP
.B S[s]
use special symbol set (for random character password generation algorithm only).
.TP
.B N[n]
use numeral symbol set.
.TP
.B C[c]
use capital symbol set.
.TP
.B L[l]
use small letters symbol set (always present if pronounceable password
generation algorithm is used).
.TP
.B R[r]
the same as \fBS[s]\fP but it does not generate symbols \fB`\fP, \fB'\fP,
\fB"\fP, \fB|\fP, \fB$\fP, \fBbackslash\fP, \fB?\fP. Usefull for password generation in
a shell script. (For random character password generation algorithm only).
.RE
.RS
.br
\fBmode\fP can not be more then 5 characters in
length.
.PP
.B Examples:
.br
\fB-M sncl\fP or \fB-M SNCL\fP or \fB-M Cn\fP
.PP
\fB-M mode\fP is the new style password generation mode definition, but the old style
options(-C, -N, -S, -L, -R) are also supported.
.RE
.TP
.B -S
use special symbol set. For random character password generation algorithm only.
(old style - use \fB-M mode\fP instead).
.TP
.B -R
the same as \fB-S\fP but it does not generate symbols \fB`\fP, \fB'\fP,
\fB"\fP, \fB|\fP, \fB$\fP, \fBbackslash\fP, \fB?\fP. Usefull for password generation in
a shell script. For random character password generation algorithm only.
(old style - use \fB-M mode\fP instead).
.TP
.B -N
use numeral symbol set.
(old style - use \fB-M mode\fP instead).
.TP
.B -C
use capital symbol set.
(old style - use \fB-M mode\fP instead).
.TP
.B -L
use small letters symbol set. Always present if pronounceable password
generation algorithm is used.
(old style - use \fB-M mode\fP instead).
.TP
.B -a algorithm
use 
.B algorithm
for password generation.
.RS
.B 0
- (default) pronounceable password generation
.br
.B 1
- random character password generation
.RE
.TP
.B -r \fIdictfile\fP
check generated passwords for their appearance in 
.B dictfile
.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 6.
.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 8.
.SH "DEFAULT OPTIONS"
\fBapgd -a 0 -N -C -L -n 6 -m 6 -x 8\fP (old style)
.br
\fBapgd -a 0 -M NCL -n 6 -x 8 -m 6\fP (new style)
.SH "EXIT CODE"
On successful completion of its task,
.B apgd
will complete with exit code 0.  An exit code of -1 indicates an error
occurred.  Textual errors are written to the
.B syslogd
(8).
.SH "DIAGNOSTICS"
All textual info is written to the
\fBsyslogd\fP(8).
.SH "FILES"
.B None.
.SH "BUGS"
.B None.
If you've found one, please send bug description to the author.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
\fBapg\fP(1)
.SH "AUTHOR"
Adel I. Mirzazhanov, <a-del@iname.com>
.br
Project home page: http://www.adel.nursat.kz/apg/