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redacted / XKCD-password-generator

Generate secure multiword passwords/passphrases, inspired by XKCD
BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" License
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xkcdpass

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A flexible and scriptable password generator which generates strong passphrases, inspired by XKCD 936 <http://xkcd.com/936/>_::

$ xkcdpass
> correct horse battery staple

.. image:: http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/password_strength.png

Install

xkcdpass can be easily installed using pip::

pip install xkcdpass

or manually::

python setup.py install

Source

The latest development version can be found on github: https://github.com/redacted/XKCD-password-generator

Contributions welcome and gratefully appreciated!

Requirements
============

Python 2 (version 2.7 or later), or Python 3 (version 3.4 or later). Running module unit tests on Python 2 requires ``mock`` to be installed.

Running ``xkcdpass``
====================

``xkcdpass`` can be called with no arguments::

    $ xkcdpass
    > pinball previous deprive militancy bereaved numeric

which returns a single password, using the default dictionary and default settings. Or you can mix whatever arguments you want::

    $ xkcdpass --count=5 --acrostic='chaos' --delimiter='|' --min=5 --max=6 --valid-chars='[a-z]'
    > collar|highly|asset|ovoid|sultan
    > caper|hangup|addle|oboist|scroll
    > couple|honcho|abbot|obtain|simple
    > cutler|hotly|aortae|outset|stool
    > cradle|helot|axial|ordure|shale

which returns

* ``--count=5``   5 passwords to choose from
* ``--acrostic='chaos'``   the first letters of which spell 'chaos'
* ``--delimiter='|'``   joined using '|'
* ``--min=5 --max=6``  with words between 5 and 6 characters long
* ``--valid-chars='[a-z]'``   using only lower-case letters (via regex).

A concise overview of the available ``xkcdpass`` options can be accessed via::

    xkcdpass --help

    Usage: xkcdpass [options]

    Options:
        -h, --help
                                    show this help message and exit
        -w WORDFILE, --wordfile=WORDFILE
                                    Specify that the file WORDFILE contains the list of
                                    valid words from which to generate passphrases. Multiple 
                                    wordfiles can be provided, separated by commas.
                                    Provided wordfiles: eff-long (default), eff-short,
                                    eff-special, legacy, spa-mich (Spanish), fin-kotus (Finnish)
                                    ita-wiki (Italian), ger-anlx (German), nor-nb (Norwegian),
                                    fr-freelang (French), pt-ipublicis / pt-l33t-ipublicis (Portuguese)
                                    swe-short (Swedish)
        --min=MIN_LENGTH
                                    Minimum length of words to make password
        --max=MAX_LENGTH
                                    Maximum length of words to make password
        -n NUMWORDS, --numwords=NUMWORDS
                                    Number of words to make password
        -i, --interactive
                                    Interactively select a password
        -v VALID_CHARS, --valid-chars=VALID_CHARS
                                    Valid chars, using regexp style (e.g. '[a-z]')
        -V, --verbose
                                    Report various metrics for given options, including word list entropy
        -a ACROSTIC, --acrostic=ACROSTIC
                                    Acrostic to constrain word choices
        -c COUNT, --count=COUNT
                                    number of passwords to generate
        -d DELIM, --delimiter=DELIM
                                    separator character between words
        -R, --random-delimiters
                                    use randomised delimiters
        -D DELIMITERS, --valid-delimiters=DELIMETERS
                                    delimeters to choose from, used with -
        -s SEP, --separator SEP
                                    Separate generated passphrases with SEP.
        -C CASE, --case CASE  
                                    Choose the method for setting the case of each word in
                                    the passphrase. Choices: ['alternating', 'upper',
                                    'lower', 'random', 'capitalize', 'as-is'] (default: 'lower').
        --allow-weak-rng     
                                     Allow fallback to weak RNG if the system does not
                                    support cryptographically secure RNG. Only use this if
                                    you know what you are doing.

Word lists
==========

Several word lists are provided with the package. The default, `eff-long`, was specifically designed by the EFF for `passphrase generation  <https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/07/new-wordlists-random-passphrases>`_ and is licensed under `CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/>`_. As it was originally intended for use with Diceware ensure that the number of words in your passphrase is at least six when using it. Two shorter variants of that list, `eff-short` and `eff-special`, are also included. Please refer to the EFF documentation linked above for more information.

The original word list from `xkcdpass` versions earlier than 1.10.0 is also provided as a convenience, and is available under `legacy`. This word list is derived mechanically from `12Dicts <http://wordlist.aspell.net/12dicts/>`_ by Alan Beale. It is the understanding of the author of ``xkcdpass`` that purely mechanical transformation does not imbue copyright in the resulting work. The documentation for the 12Dicts project at
http://wordlist.aspell.net/12dicts/ contains the following dedication:

..

    The 12dicts lists were compiled by Alan Beale. I explicitly release them to the public domain, but request acknowledgment of their use.

Note that the generator can be used with any word file of the correct format: a file containing one 'word' per line.  

Additional languages

Additional language word lists are always welcome!

Using xkcdpass as an imported module

The built-in functionality of xkcdpass can be extended by importing the module into python scripts. An example of this usage is provided in example_import.py <https://github.com/redacted/XKCD-password-generator/blob/master/examples/example_import.py>_, which randomly capitalises the letters in a generated password. example_json.py demonstrates integration of xkcdpass into a Django project, generating password suggestions as JSON to be consumed by a Javascript front-end.

A simple use of import::

from xkcdpass import xkcd_password as xp

# create a wordlist from the default wordfile
# use words between 5 and 8 letters long
wordfile = xp.locate_wordfile()
mywords = xp.generate_wordlist(wordfile=wordfile, min_length=5, max_length=8)

# create a password with the acrostic "face"
print(xp.generate_xkcdpassword(mywords, acrostic="face"))

When used as an imported module, generate_wordlist() takes the following args (defaults shown)::

wordfile=None,
min_length=5,
max_length=9,
valid_chars='.'

While generate_xkcdpassword() takes::

wordlist,
numwords=6,
interactive=False,
acrostic=False,
delimiter=" "

Insecure random number generators

xkcdpass uses crytographically strong random number generators where possible (provided by random.SystemRandom() on most modern operating systems). From version 1.7.0 falling back to an insecure RNG must be explicitly enabled, either by using a new command line variable before running the script::

xkcdpass --allow-weak-rng

or setting the appropriate environment variable::

export XKCDPASS_ALLOW_WEAKRNG=1

Changelog

License

This is free software: you may copy, modify, and/or distribute this work under the terms of the BSD 3-Clause license. See the file LICENSE.BSD for details.