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Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2012 18:34:42 +0200
From: Frank Dittrich <frank_dittrich@...mail.com>
To: john-dev@...ts.openwall.com
Subject: Re: "Hide" more options

On 06/30/2012 05:35 PM, magnum wrote:
> The usage blob is very long. I propose that the following options are
> moved to "hidden" because they are either for expert use or for very
> rare cases:

Here is your list, but the sequence changed (most likely candidates on top)

> --plugin=NAME[,..]        load this (these) dynamic plugin(s)

Do we even distribute a plugin with jumbo-6 (or the next jumbo)?
I think we don't. Perfect candidate to move this to hidden-options

> --regen-lost-salts=N      regenerate lost salts (see doc/OPTIONS)

Only useful for e very limited purpose.
I'd agree with moving it to hidden-options

> --mem-file-size=SIZE      size threshold for wordlist preload (default
5 MB)

I think most users don't really know what SIZE to pick anyway,
so let's move it to hidden-options as well.

Now the options which IMO can be moved to hidden-option, but in this
case an additional usage line pointing to --list=hidden-options might be
necessary:

> --crack-status            emit a status line whenever a password is
cracked

Some users probably enjoy having this feature.

> --max-run-time=N          gracefully exit after this many seconds

Can be used for performance comparison, or if you don't yet know which
attack might work best, and you want to evaluate the success afterwards
to decide which of the sessions to continue...

> --config=FILE             use FILE instead of john.conf or john.ini

OK. The only reason why I would have used this option was for running
several Markov mode sessions with different stats files at the same
time. But that reason is gone with the introduction of [Markov:MODE].

> --make-charset=FILE       make a charset file. It will be overwritten

I would leave it in the usage output, exactly because of the reason you
mentioned:

> The --make-charset is arguable because it's a core option.

I use --make-charset more frequently than other options which are in the
usage output - even if all the other options listed here get moved to
hidden-options.

Frank

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