* It tries to generate words from a username and gecos entry and
checks those words against the password;
* It checks for simplistic patterns in passwords;
* It checks for the password in a dictionary.
CrackLib is actually a library containing a particular
C function which is used to check the password, as well as
other C functions. CrackLib is not a replacement for a passwd
program; it must be used in conjunction with an existing passwd
program.
Install the cracklib package if you need a program to check users'
passwords to see if they are at least minimally secure. If you
install CrackLib, you'll also want to install the cracklib-dicts
package.
drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 0 Apr 4 2000 /usr/doc/cracklib-2.7 -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 373 Dec 31 1997 /usr/doc/cracklib-2.7/HISTORY -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 4851 Jul 9 1993 /usr/doc/cracklib-2.7/LICENCE -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 1338 Jul 9 1993 /usr/doc/cracklib-2.7/MANIFEST -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 1276 Jul 9 1993 /usr/doc/cracklib-2.7/POSTER -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 8983 Dec 14 1997 /usr/doc/cracklib-2.7/README -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 408 Apr 4 2000 /usr/include/crack.h -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 24720 Apr 4 2000 /usr/lib/libcrack.a