makekey(8)makekey(8)NAMEmakekey - generate encryption key
SYNOPSIS
/usr/lbin/makekey
DESCRIPTION
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 substan‐
tial 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 dif‐
ferent 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
Commands: crypt(1), ed(1), ex(1), vi(1)makekey(8)
