apgWeb 0.50 review

apgWeb is a simple AJAX front end for the Automated Password Generator (apg). Requirements: · The Automated Password Generator ·

License: MIT/X Consortium License File size: 18K Developer: Joseph E. Van Riper III

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apgWeb is a simple AJAX front end for the Automated Password Generator (apg).

Requirements:
The Automated Password Generator
Python
You'll also want the standard set of Python libraries, at least the os, cgi, re, and string libraries. These come standard in most distributions of Python.
A web browser configured to allow cgi scripts using Python.

Installation:

Installation should be relatively straightforward.

The apg program in the cgi-bin folder belongs in the folder allowing Python scripts to run from a URL.

The rest of the files go to whatever folder you want your users to use for apg.

You may need to modify js/apg.js a little, if the URL to the apg Python script is not in http://[your domain]/cgi-bin... simply change the apgUrl variable at the top of the file to point to the correct location.

You can also modify index.html and css/apg.css to better fit your scheme.

How does it work:

This is basically an AJAX front-end to apg.

The Python script simply takes the cgi arguments and converts them into command line arguments for apg (while performing some safety measures to prevent malicious URLs from executing arbitrary code). The Python script then takes the results and converts them into XML for the web browser.

The web browser runs some JavaScript that converts the XML into a table to display on the web page.

Limitations:
Some passwords do not render properly in the browser, because the browser thinks the password is actually starting a tag of some kind. Fortunately, you may still see what these passwords should be, if you have selected non-random (pronouncable) passwords.
Some combinatons of selections cause no passwords to appear at all, yet you're not prevented or warned about such selections.