[Discuss] Password managers

[Daniel Barrett]

On May 7, 2020, Tom Metro wrote:
>Here are the characteristics I consider minimum acceptable for a
>password manager: open source implementation; [...] code that only
>changes when I explicitly download and install a new version; [...]
>good random password generator [...] no browser integration; no cloud
>storage [...]

Very nice write-up, Tom!

Here is my password manager that seems to meet most of your
requirements.

1. Store username/password pairs in a tab-delimited text file, one
entry per line, with 3 columns: username, password, and freeform text.

2. Encrypt the password file with gpg. Use Emacs's EasyPG thereafter
to edit the file as needed.

3. Retrieve passwords using a simple script that calls gpg to decrypt,
grep to find the line you want, and cut to isolate the username &
password. Optionally, call xclip to copy username & password into the
window manager's clipboard for easy pasting.

4. Use bash & pwgen to generate random passwords between 18-24 characters:

  pwgen -y -s -N1 $[$RANDOM % 6 + 18]

5. To retrieve passwords remotely, use SSH with public key authentication.

I've been using this system for ~15 years. The only downside is it's
not spouse-friendly (unless your spouse groks the Linux command line).

--
Dan Barrett
dbarrett at blazemonger.com