NAME
mcookie - generate magic cookies for xauth
SYNOPSIS
mcookie [-v] [-f filename ]
DESCRIPTION
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.
BUGS
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.
FILES
/dev/random
/dev/urandom
/dev/audio
/proc/stat
/proc/loadavg
SEE ALSO
X(1),
xauth(1),
md5sum(1)