--- name: "diceware" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "diceware" version: "1.0.1-1" release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/diceware" --- # diceware(1) create passphrases ## NAME diceware - create passphrases ## SYNOPSIS **diceware** \[*OPTION*\]... \[*FILE*\] ## DESCRIPTION **diceware** generates passphrases by concatenating words randomly picked from wordlists. It supports also real dice for passphrase generation. It is based on the proposals of Arnold G. Reinhold on \ . ## OPTIONS **positional arguments**: - **FILE** optional input wordlist. **'-'** will read from stdin. Should contain one word per line. **optional arguments**: - **-h, --help** show 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* \[*NAME* ...\]\], --wordlist \[*NAME* \[*NAME* ...\]\]** Use words from this wordlist. Possible values: *ca*, *de*, *de\_8k*, *en*, *en\_8k*, *en\_adjectives*, *en\_eff*, *en\_nouns*, *en\_orig*, *en\_securedrop*. *es*, *it*, *pt-br*. 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 ## ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES - **XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME** If set and not empty, this variable determines the directory to use for user-local configuration files. We then lookup *${XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME}/diceware/diceware.ini* and values set here override system-wide config files. - **XDG\_CONFIG\_DIRS** If set and not empty, this variable is interpreted as colon-separated list of directories, that might contain system-wide configuration files. We lookup *\/diceware/diceware.ini* for each directory set in *$XDG\_CONFIG\_DIRS*. - **XDG\_DATA\_HOME** If set and not empty, this variable determines a directory to search for additional wordlists. We then lookup *${XDG\_DATA\_HOME}/diceware* for any existing wordlist files. - **XDG\_DATA\_DIRS** If set and not empty, this variable is interpreted as colon-separated list of directories, that might contain additional wordlist files. See below. We lookup *\/diceware/* then for each directory set in the list. ## FILES Depending on environment variables set (or not set) we lookup certain directories for configuration files called **diceware.ini** and for wordlist files. ### CONFIGURATION FILES Configuration settings for **diceware** can be spread over several configuration files. We parse configuration values from the files given below, but values set in former files take precedence over values set in latter ones. - ***~/.diceware.ini*** Your personal diceware configuration file. Values set here override values from any other configuration file. - ***$XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/diceware/diceware.ini*** Additional location for your personal diceware configuration. Values set here will override any system-wide valid values but can be overridden by *~/.diceware.ini*. - ***$HOME/.config/diceware/diceware.ini*** Alternative location for diceware configuration, only used if *${XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME}* is empty or unset. - ***/etc/xdg/diceware/diceware.ini*** If **$XDG\_CONFIG\_DIRS** is not set or empty, we look here for a system-wide configuration file. Values set here take least precedence. ### WORDLIST FILES AND WORDLIST DIRECTORIES: **diceware** comes with a set of wordlists but enables you to add new wordlists by putting them into certain directories. The paths where the lists are stored (including the built-in ones) is shown using **--show-wordlist-dirs**. Wordlist files are expected to contain lines with one term on each line and they must have a certain filenames to be found. Wordlist filenames have to follow the pattern: **wordlist\_\.txt** where **\** can be any name consisting of letters, numbers, underscores and hyphens. For instance **wordlist\_en\_eff.txt** is the filename of the EFF (electronic frontier foundation) word list. **en\_eff** is the name of this list. We support **.txt** and **.asc** as filename extensions for wordlists, where **.txt** files are expected to be plain wordlists and **.asc** files should provide a PGP-signature. If wordlists with the same name are found in different directories then the one in the directory with the highest precedence is taken only. The following locations are ordered by precedence (highest first). Therefore built-in wordlists cannot be overridden by custom wordlists. You can, however, use custom wordlists with a different name. Directories we look up that do not exist (in part or completely) are silently skipped when searching for wordlist files. - ***\/wordlists/*** The directory containing the built-in wordlists as part of the installation. These are the wordlists that are always available, regardless of configuration values and their exact location depends on the installation location of the **diceware** package. - ***$XDG\_DATA\_HOME/diceware/*** If $XDG\_DATA\_HOME is set and not empty, we look in this directory for wordlists. - ***$HOME/.local/share/diceware/*** If $XDG\_DATA\_HOME is unset or empty, we look into this directory for wordlists. - ***\/diceware* from *$XDG\_DATA\_DIRS*** If $XDG\_DATA\_DIR is set and not empty, it is interpreted as a colon-separated list of directories with */diceware* appended. So, */foo/bar:/baz* will make us look into */foo/bar/diceware/* and */baz/diceware/* in that order. - ***/usr/local/share/diceware/*, */usr/share/diceware*** If $XDG\_DATA\_DIRS is unset or empty, we look into these two directories for wordlists. ## EXAMPLES - **diceware** Create a passphrase using defaults. Outputs something like "**WheelDyeHonkCanvasWitsPuck**" - **diceware -d *"-"* -n *3*** Create a passphrase with three words, separated by dash ("*-*"). Results in something like "**Wheel-Dye-Honk**" - **diceware --no-caps** Create a passphrase without capital words. Creates something like "**wheel-dye-honk**". - **diceware -r *realdice*** Use real dice to create a passphrase. The program will tell you what to do (roll dice and tell what numbers appear) and in the end present a passphrase. - **diceware -r *realdice* --dice-sides *20*** Use real dice, as shown above, but this time use dice with 20 faces, instead of standard, 6-sided dice. - **diceware mywordlist.txt** Create a passphrase with words from file "mywordlist.txt". The file should contain one word on each line. - **diceware -w en\_securedrop -s 2** Create a passphrase with two special chars spread over the generated passphrase and containing words from wordlist "**en\_securedrop**". This is one of the wordlists that come included with *diceware*. Creates something like: "**PlayaBrigVer{SeesNe-tsGets**". - **diceware -w en\_adjectives en\_nouns -n 2** Create two syntactically meaningful phrases, each one consisting of an adjective and a noun. Results in something like: "**CruelAttendeesCleanCoffee**". ## COPYRIGHT Copyright (C) 2015-2024 Uli Fouquet and contributors This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see \< \ \>. diceware is a concept invented by Arnold G. Reinhold, Cambridge, Massachusetts USA. The Securedrop wordlist (file **wordlists/wordlist\_en\_securedrop.asc**) by Heartsucker is licensed under the *MIT* license (see \ ). The EFF wordlist (file **wordlsts/wordlist\_en\_eff.txt**) is licensed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation under the *Creative Commons CC-BY 3.0 US* license (see \ ). The copyright for the the *Diceware SecureDrop* list is owned by *@heartsucker*. Copyright for the *EFF large* list by *Joseph Bonneau* and *EFF*. Copyright for the brazilian portuguese list by *@drebs*. Copyright for the english adjective and noun lists by *NaturalLanguagePasswords*. "Diceware" is a trademark of Arnold G Reinhold, used with permission. ## AUTHOR Written by Uli Fouquet and contributors