wn_mkpasswd(8)

NAME

wn_mkpasswd - create and manage DES password files for wn HTTP server

SYNOPSIS

wn_mkpasswd [-n [-D] |-d [-D] |-h] [ passwd_file]

DESCRIPTION

wn_mkpasswd is a perl(1) program that is part of the wn(1) HTTP server package. It is used to create and manage password files for authenticating a user through "Basic" authentication described in the HTTP protocol. The password are encrypted using the Data Encryption Standard (DES) algorithm (http://www.itl.nist.gov/fipspubs/fip46-2.htm) as implemented in the crypt perl(1) builtin function perlfunc(1p).

An alternative is the wn_md5passwd(8) utility which encrypts the passwords using the RSA Data Security Inc. (http://www.rsa.com/) MD5 Message Digest algorithm as implemented in the md5sum(1) utility that is part of the Debian dpkg(8) package.

wn_mkpasswd should be used the first time to create the password file:

        wn_mkpasswd -n passwd_file

This prompts you for a user name and password and then creates a password file called passwd_file with that entry. On subsequent uses the -n argument should be omitted so that entries will be added to the existing file instead of starting a new one. If a subsequent entry is made with the same user name the entry for that user will be replaced. If the passwd_file argument is omitted then the default name of wn_mkpasswd is used.

There is another optional argument which may be used with this program. The command:

        wn_mkpasswd -n -D passwd_file

causes a UNIX DBM database to be created or used instead of a simple flat file. This is very useful if you have a very large number of password entries. The database resides in the two passwd_file.dir and passwd_file.pag files. To create a new database you must remove or rename the .pag and .dir files.

To remove a single entry from a password file use the command:

        wn_mkpasswd -d passwd_file

or

        wn_mkpasswd -d -D passwd_file

for a UNIX DBM database.

Once you have created your password file and made sure that it is readable by the user id under which the wn(1) server will run, you are ready to set up the wnauth(3) authentication module. This is done on a per directory basis by three entries in directory record of the index file (see http:/doc/wn/access.html).

WARNING

I would strongly advise against using basic authentication described here to protect sensitive information on a server which runs on system on which untrusted users have accounts. The "Basic" authentication protocol sends passwords across the network with no encryption. Specifically, you should not use the host password file /etc/passwd as the wn(1) password file.

OPTIONS

-D: Use UNIX DBM database instead of flat file.

-d: [ passwd_file ]

Delete a user from the passwd_file if the user exists. If passwd_file is not supplied the default wn_mkpasswd is used instead. If the password file is a UNIX DBM database, the -D must also be provided.

-h: Print help message.

-n: [ passwd_file ]

Create new password database passwd_file or wn_mkpasswd if optional argument is not supplied. If the -D option is also supplied, a UNIX DBM database consisting of the files passwd_file.dir and passwd_file.pag is created instead.

FILES

passwd_file: [ .dir | .pag ]

Database of users and corresponding passwords.

AUTHOR

wn is written by John Franks <[email protected]>. Modified by Jean Pierre LeJacq <[email protected]> as part of packaging for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution. Manual page also added by Jean Pierre LeJacq.