mcookie — generate magic cookies for xauth
mcookie [−v] [ −f filename ]
mcookie generates a 128-bit random hexadecimal number for use with the X authority system. Typical usage:
xauth add :0 . `mcookie`
The "random" number generated is actually the output of
the MD5 message digest fed with various piece of random
information: the current time, the process id, the parent
process id, the contents of an input file (if −f is specified), and several bytes of
information from the first of the following devices which is
present: /dev/random,
/dev/urandom, files in
/proc, /dev/audio.
The entropy in the generated 128-bit is probably quite
small (and, therefore, vulnerable to attack) unless a
non-pseudorandom number generator is used (e.g., /dev/random under Linux).
It is assumed that none of the devices opened will block.
X(1), xauth(1), md5sum(1)
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mcookie.1 -- Public Domain 1995 Rickard E. Faith (faithcs.unc.edu) |