random_cli 1.0.0

a cli app that simply generates a random 64 character alphanumeric string.

a cli app that simply generates 64 random alphanumeric characters.

for example:

$ random
vBDkKl1JqyeUu4n8ygrF0JflP6odhRnYSaxtND1dUSauNnUj7JDI9DHEYGs9FHhk

I am kind of sick and tired of not being able to generate a simple alphanumeric random string for passwords or what not without relying on a web browser.

I really like something in the terminal so that it is kind of temporary yet I can copy and paste it when I need it, and be able to simply close the terminal window when I am done.

I find it surprising that there is no simple cli app to do this… I resort to doing things like dd if=/dev/urandom count=1 | base64, but this is not ideal, it is a long command and just not very configurable. most of the time I just want a simple alphanumeric string but base64 gives all kinds of things, which is great for what it is, but not really intended for what I am doing most of the time.

so here it is, a purpose built cli app just for generating random alphanumeric strings.

security

• random_cli is entirely hosted on the client machine, no internet connection is ever used after installation.

• randomness is provided by the python secrets module, introduced in python 3.6: <https://docs.python.org/3.6/library/secrets.html>.

  • the secrets module uses best source of cryptographic randomness provided by the operating system. on linux, that may be /dev/urandom. they are suitable for managing data such as passwords, account authentication, security tokens, and related secrets.

• disclaimer: this project has not been security audited. while secrets module is cryptographically strong, you should do your own assessment if this project is suitable for your specific use case.

install

random_cli requires python 3.6 or higher as random_cli uses the new secrets module introduced in python 3.6.

you can install random_cli from pypi, or from source.

to install system wide from pypi with pip:

sudo python3 -m pip install random_cli

I use “flit” to build and publish random_cli, so “flit” is required if you want install from source:

sudo python3 -m pip install flit

then you can build and install random_cli from source:

git clone https://github.com/sunnz/random-cli.py random_cli
cd random_cli
flit install

that would install random_cli into your home directory.

to install system wide from source, instead of flit install, run:

sudo su
FLIT_ROOT_INSTALL=1 flit install
exit

usage

usage: random [OPTIONS] [LENGTH]

options:

--type TEXT  alphanumeric (default), print, letters, lower, upper, hex
--help       Show this message and exit.

options and length is optional, default to 64 characters.

examples:

$ random
6aNaxiFpAtNCYAnyb7LjBCVS9ktQL2QNj1qDYUCvrUDctY4e4DFWMKz23CPmY0Of

$ random 10
8WsApVMknV

$ random --type print
0e;:e&%cghH-|/fo4L$tSrn&O'nOavWSfl"\1pW9Q4tO~}-eS2?C4N,PKv/XEX^?

$ random --type letters
UYUgcmuILkxiIsdHDRPOuCcxaOSIHryJHvTHRtOwPRnSqlsTIjTXheSVonhsPpWh

$ random --type lower
quthvsoxiqpipnigvzsjxugmbryczokqffyzmejhibktoitaszhtexgrptodgqnw

$ random --type upper
SAVGDFKDJRRSUFOGQOWYGEBKLPHMQXSSRCVLQHXZCAXRVJYOZERIMCPIINMZWDQK

$ random --type hex
85Bb8BaA8c3fbBcdbF3BAF7a7EeE0E8Aa2D22b87BA0EC315603A6cCaC27dBF9A

random_cli generates 64 random alphanumeric characters by default if no options and length are given.

you should not get exactly the same results as above examples as random_cli picks random characters from the given options. (you would be extremely lucky if you do, as that equates to winning the lotto serveral times in a row!!)

runtime error

if you see something like this error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  ...
RuntimeError: Click will abort further execution because Python 3 was
  configured to use ASCII as encoding for the environment.
  ...

this can be fixed by exporting the locale to the encoding of choice. for example, I am using australian english, so I would set my locale to en_AU.utf8 by running the following:

export LC_ALL=en_AU.utf8
export LANG=en_AU.utf8

the set the locale permanently, this repo provides a script locale.sh under shell-scripts. copy it to /etc/profile.d/locale.sh.

see python 3 surrogates for more information: <http://click.pocoo.org/6/python3/#python3-surrogates>.

development

setup virtualenv:

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install -r requirements.txt

from this point we assume that python refers to python 3 in virtualenv.

to run unit test (via python 3 pytest module):

python -m pytest --flake8 --cache-clear -v

to build command for testing (e.g. within virtualenv):

flit install

after which you can run it by running random in the terminal in virtualenv. to rebuild simply run flit install again.

contribute

you are very welcomed to open issues and/or submit pull requests on github: <https://github.com/sunnz/random-cli.py>.

this project follows standard-readme specification: <https://github.com/RichardLitt/standard-readme>.

if you find this project useful and would like to tip me over bitcoin, here’s my bitcoin tipping address: 1P1v6k1Qr9Ad3fMLrtgj5PQjYLyZdjqLZP. 100% optional, it would totally be an awesome encouragement, no matter what the amount is! :)

licence

isc (c) sunnz <https://github.com/sunnz>.