A simple, small, single binary, cross-platform command line application that suggests strong and safe passwords using a large pool of English language three letter words. Each offered randomly generated password includes an additional random character, and a two digit random number.
The program is available for most computer operating systems as a single
binary that has no additional installation requirements. Just download a binary and add
the program to your computer operating systems PATH, or copy it to an existing
directory already in you PATH.
Pre-compiled binaries are provided for Windows (x64), Linux (x64 and aarch64), and macOS (x64 and arm64) - all available for download from the Releases page.
Stable releases are:
See the addtional informaiton below on how to customise the programs output, and also the 'Support' section below, if you have any other problems.
opass (short for 'offer password') is a password creation tool
which uses a pool of three letter English words to generate password
suggestions. The three-letter words are randomly selected from the
pool, creating password suggestions and displaying them on the screen
for the user to select from.
In addition, to the large word list used, the program also generates a random two-digit number (ie 00 to 99), and a random character. These different combinations or randomly generated components significantly enhance the generated passwords overall security. The inclusion of upper and lower case three letter word options for each generated password further significantly enhances the security and 'difficulty to crack' benefits of the offer passwords.
The additional characters (marks) to complement the words and random number have
been limited to those that are easily found on most keyboards. This is to help ensure
the password should be safe to enter without depending on different
keyboard maps.
The randomly selected mark will be taken from the following list:
# . , ; @ % : ! > - <The output of the suggested password is also in colour (but can be turned off if preferred) to help differentiate between to suggested word, numbers, and marks.
Finally, the number of words used in each password (so controlling its generated password length), and the number of passwords offered to select from, can also be controlled by the user.
The opass program is written in the C language, and is a command line / terminal based program. It should compile and then run on any platform that supports the C programming language, such as on Windows, macOS, and Linux, FreeBSD, etc.
A three letter English word list of over 1,000 words was acquired for use in the application, from the Association of British Scrabble Players (ABSP) web page is here: http://www.absp.org.uk/words/3lw.shtml
A number of command line flags can be specified when the program is run which are shown below:
Help Summary: the following command line switches can be used:
-e, --export Dump the full list of three letter words and marks.
-h, --help Show this help information.
-q, --quick Just offer a password and no other output.
-v, --version Display the version of the program and password stats.Either the long form or short form flags can be used, depending on user preference.
Below are examples of the outputs display when the program is run.
Below is the default output when the program is just run as opass or opass.exe:
Below is the output when the program is run as opass or opass.exe but the output is
set to display password strings made up from seven (7) different three letter words, and
to show eight (8) different random passwords for the user to select from:
Information is displayed on screen when the user requests help via the command line flags
(either -h or --help) which explains the programs usage and includes example
commands for Windows and unix based systems (ie Linux; macOS, etc).
Two environment variables can be used to control offered password configuration:
- OPASS_WORDS : helps control the overall password length;
- OPASS_NUM : the number of password generated for the user to select from.
These perform the following tasks to override the applications defaults - only if needed:
- OPASS_WORDS=<number of three letter words to include>
- OPASS_NUM=<number of passwords to offer>These can be set in the shell, or just given when needed on the command line. Examples of running opass in different ways are shown below:
Example usage 1: opass
Shows default usage provides the equivalent command of: OPASS_WORDS=3 OPASS_NUM=5 opass
Example usage 2: OPASS_WORDS=7 OPASS_NUM=8 opass
Usage ensures seven random three letter words are included and eight different password choices will be offered to the user to select from.
Note for Windows users: the above command examples need to be adapted as shown below:
For Windows 'cmd.exe' use: set "OPASS_WORDS=7" & set "OPASS_NUM=8" & opass
For Windows 'Powershell' use: $env:OPASS_WORDS=7 ; $env:OPASS_NUM=8 ; opass
Output will use ANSI colour by default. The 'NO_COLOR' environment is respected and colour output is disabled if it is set.
This can also be specified on the command line by running commands as shown below:
For Windows 'cmd.exe' use: set "NO_COLOR=1" & opass
For Windows 'Powershell' use: $env:NO_COLOR=1 ; opass
For macOS, Linux, 'Unix shells' use: NO_COLOR=1 opass
See: https://no-color.org/ web site for more information about NO_COLOR support in
applications.
Pre-compiled binaries are provided via the Releases page. If you wish to build the program yourself, follow the instructions below.
A C compiler will be needed to build the application. There are no additional library dependencies. If you wish to use the CMake build option, the both CMake amd make are required too.
Before building the application, download a copy of the source code, and unzip it.
If you have git installed, then just clone this GitHub opass repo to your computer with:
git clone https://github.com/wiremoons/opass.gitOn Windows using MingGW, compile the program as opass.exe with:
gcc -Wall --std=gnu11 -Dsrandom=srand -Drandom=rand -static -DDEBUG=0 -DNDEBUG -o opass ./src/opass.c ./src/output.cOn Unix (Linux/macOS/etc), compile the program as opass using with:
gcc -Wall --std=gnu11 -static -DDEBUG=0 -DNDEBUG -o opass ./src/opass.c ./src/output.cThe following command can be used to generate a build file and compile the program on Windows 10 using MingGW and CMake for Windows.
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -G "MinGW Makefiles" ..The following command can be used to generate a build file and compile
the program on a Unix system. Or alternatively the commands below are
included in the provided shell script: ./build.sh to auto automate
the CMake build process. Otherwise, run the following commands:
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..The opass program is opensource and free, so you are able (if you wish) to change and
update the program to customise it to your own needs. However, if you find a bug or have a
problem, maybe a suggestion for a new feature etc, please open an issue (or add your
thoughts to an already existing one) using the link below.
If the help and the specific support below does not fix your problem when using opass
please open an issue using the link below. Please describe the problem you are having,
and I will try to help you fix it if possible!
On Windows the program works well with both cmd.exe and Powershell - however on
older Windows versions the colour output may not display correctly.
When running opass.exe on Windows, the offered passwords may include additional
characters. These are the ANSI escape codes used to switch on and off the colour
output - that older versions of Windows doesn't understand properly.
This can quickly be 'fixed' as a workaround by specifying on the command line the 'NO_COLOR' option as shown below:
- For Windows '
cmd.exe' use:set "NO_COLOR=1" & opass.exe - For Windows '
Powershell' use:$env:NO_COLOR=1 ; opass.exe
A better solution (that will improve other programs usage and outputs too!) is to instead use Microsoft's much improved and more modern 'Terminal' application. This is being rolled out by Microsoft to become the default on all Windows 10 computers, but if you want to install it yourself - it is also available for free from the Microsoft Windows Store:
Once installed and used, opass should display all output correctly.
The program is licensed under the "MIT License" see http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT for more details.