passwdqc - password/passphrase strength checking and enforcement

passwdqc is a password/passphrase strength checking and policy enforcement toolset, including an optional PAM module (pam_passwdqc), command-line programs (pwqcheck and pwqgen), and a library (libpasswdqc).

On systems with PAM, pam_passwdqc is normally invoked on password changes by programs such as passwd(1). It is capable of checking password or passphrase strength, enforcing a policy, and offering randomly-generated passphrases, with all of these features being optional and easily (re-)configurable.

pwqcheck and pwqgen are standalone password/passphrase strength checking and random passphrase generator programs, respectively, which are usable from scripts.

libpasswdqc is the underlying library, which may also be used from third-party programs.

You may view the latest INSTALL, README, and PLATFORMS files (which are also included in the archive below).

Development (all components):

• passwdqc 1.1.3 and its signature

Since passwdqc is now usable on systems without PAM, we're currently working on improving its portability. Please test passwdqc 1.1.x on various platforms and provide your feedback (we're interested to hear of both successes and failures, as well as of any compiler warnings and any other issues). Please be sure to include a description of your systems (OS, version, CPU architecture, C compiler and its version). We're currently specifically interested in test results for HP-UX and AIX (both PAM-capable versions and not).

Stable (slightly older version of pam_passwdqc only, not requiring libpasswdqc):

• pam_passwdqc 1.0.5 and its signature

These and older versions of pam_passwdqc are also available via FTP. The source code of passwdqc may be browsed via CVSweb.

Follow this link for information on verifying the signatures.

We may help you integrate pam_passwdqc into your OS installs, please check out our services.

Contributed resources:

• passwdqc for OpenBSD by Damien Miller
  (also available in the ports collection)
  This is a plugin password strength checker for OpenBSD's /usr/bin/passwd that uses the password complexity checking code from pam_passwdqc.
• pwdqc 1.4 by Wolfram Wagner
  A standalone program to call the password complexity checking functions of pam_passwdqc (e.g., from a website script).
  This has been obsoleted by the pwqcheck program included in passwdqc 1.1.0+.

pam_passwdqc has been integrated into FreeBSD 5.0+ and DragonFly BSD 2.2+. It is used on Owl, distributions by ALT Linux team, ASPLinux, and Annvix. Additionally, it is a part of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, and Fedora, Debian GNU/Linux, SUSE Linux, and Gentoo Linux.

passwdqc is a registered project with freshmeat and Ohloh.

You may want to check out these other PAM modules.

Support further work on this software with donations.

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