README.rst

diceware

Passphrases to remember...

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diceware is a passphrase generator following the proposals of Arnold G. Reinhold on http://diceware.com . It generates passphrases by concatenating words randomly picked from wordlists. For instance:

$ diceware
MyraPend93rdSixthEagleAid

The passphrase contains by default six words (with first char capitalized) without any separator chars. Optionally you can let diceware insert special chars into the passphrase.

diceware supports several sources of randomness (including real life dice) and different wordlists (including cryptographically signed ones).

Contents

• Install
• Usage
• What is it good for?
• Is it secure?
• Security Traps
  • Prefix Code
  • Reduced Entropy
• Developer Install
  • Documentation Install
  • Creating the Man Page
• Credits
• Links
• License

Install

This Python package can be installed via pip:

$ pip install diceware

The exact way depends on your operating system.

Usage

Once installed, use --help to list all available options:

$ diceware --help
Create a passphrase

positional arguments:
  INFILE                Input wordlist. `-' will read from stdin.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -n NUM, --num NUM     number of words to concatenate. Default: 6
  -c, --caps            Capitalize words. This is the default.
  --no-caps             Turn off capitalization.
  -s NUM, --specials NUM
                        Insert NUM special chars into generated word.
  -d DELIMITER, --delimiter DELIMITER
                        Separate words by DELIMITER. Empty string by default.
  -r SOURCE, --randomsource SOURCE
                        Get randomness from this source. Possible values:
                        `realdice', `system'. Default: system
  -w NAME, --wordlist NAME
                        Use words from this wordlist. Possible values: `en',
                        `en_eff', `en_orig', `en_securedrop'. Wordlists are
                        stored in the folder displayed below. Default: en_eff
  -v, --verbose         Be verbose. Use several times for increased verbosity.
  --version             output version information and exit.

Arguments related to `realdice' randomsource:
  --dice-sides N        Number of sides of dice. Default: 6

Wordlists are stored in <WORDLISTS-DIR>

With -n you can tell how many words are supposed to be picked for your new passphrase:

$ diceware -n 1
Thud

$ diceware -n 2
KnitMargo

You can diceware additionally let generate special chars to replace characters in the 'normal' passphrase. The number of special chars generated can be determined with the -s option (default is zero):