NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

       makekey - generate encryption key

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

       /usr/lbin/makekey

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

       The  makekey command improves the usefulness of encryption
       schemes depending on a key by  increasing  the  amount  of
       time  required to search the key space.  It reads 10 bytes
       from its standard input, and writes 13 bytes on its  standard
  output.   The  output  depends on the input in a way
       intended to be difficult to compute (that is, to require a
       substantial fraction of a second).

       The first eight input bytes (the "input key") can be arbitrary
 ASCII characters. The last two (the salt)  are  best
       chosen  from  the  set  of digits, uppercase and lowercase
       letters, the period (.), and the slash (/). The salt characters
  are  repeated  as  the first two characters of the
       output. The remaining 11 output characters are chosen from
       the  same set as the salt and constitute the "output key".

       The transformation performed is essentially the following:
       the  salt  is  used  to  select  one of 4096 cryptographic
       machines all based on the National Bureau of Standards DES
       algorithm,  but modified in 4096 different ways. Using the
       input key as key,  a  constant  string  is  fed  into  the
       machine  and  recirculated  a number of times. The 64 bits
       that come out are distributed into the 66 useful key  bits
       in the result.

       The  makekey command is intended for programs that perform
       encryption (for instance, ed. Usually input and output for
       makekey are pipes.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

       Commands: crypt(1), ed(1), ex(1), vi(1)



                                                       makekey(8)