How To Install apg on Debian 10
Introduction
In this tutorial we learn how to install apg on Debian 10.
What is apg
apg is:
APG (Automated Password Generator) is the tool set for random password generation. It generates some random words of required type and prints them to standard output. This binary package contains only the standalone version of apg. Advantages:
- Built-in ANSI X9.17 RNG (Random Number Generator)(CAST/SHA1)
- Built-in password quality checking system (now it has support for Bloom filter for faster access)
- Two Password Generation Algorithms:
- Pronounceable Password Generation Algorithm (according to NIST FIPS 181)
- Random Character Password Generation Algorithm with 35 configurable modes of operation
- Configurable password length parameters
- Configurable amount of generated passwords
- Ability to initialize RNG with user string
- Support for /dev/random
- Ability to crypt() generated passwords and print them as additional output.
- Special parameters to use APG in script
- Ability to log password generation requests for network version
- Ability to control APG service access using tcpd
- Ability to use password generation service from any type of box (Mac, WinXX, etc.) that connected to network
- Ability to enforce remote users to use only allowed type of password generation The client/server version of apg has been deliberately omitted.
Please note that there are security flaws in pronounceable password generation schemes (see Ganesan / Davis “A New Attack on Random Pronounceable Password Generators”, in “Proceedings of the 17th National Computer Security Conference (NCSC), Oct. 11-14, 1994 (Volume 1)”, http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/history/nissc/ 1994-17th-NCSC-proceedings-vol-1.pdf, pages 203-216)
Also note that the FIPS 181 standard from 1993 has been withdrawn by NIST in 2015 with no superseding publication. This means that the document is considered by its publicher as obsolete and not been updated to reference current or revised voluntary industry standards, federal specifications, or federal data standards.
apg has not seen upstream attention since 2003, upstream is not answering e-mail, and the upstream web page does not look like it is in good working order. The Debian maintainer plans to discontinue apg maintenance as soon as an actually maintained software with a compariable feature set becomes available.
There are three methods to install apg on Debian 10. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.
Install apg Using apt-get
Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.
sudo apt-get update
After updating apt database, We can install apg using apt-get by running the following command:
sudo apt-get -y install apg
Install apg Using apt
Update apt database with apt using the following command.
sudo apt update
After updating apt database, We can install apg using apt by running the following command:
sudo apt -y install apg
Install apg Using aptitude
If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Debian. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.
sudo aptitude update
After updating apt database, We can install apg using aptitude by running the following command:
sudo aptitude -y install apg
How To Uninstall apg on Debian 10
To uninstall only the apg package we can use the following command:
sudo apt-get remove apg
Uninstall apg And Its Dependencies
To uninstall apg and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Debian 10, we can use the command below:
sudo apt-get -y autoremove apg
Remove apg Configurations and Data
To remove apg configuration and data from Debian 10 we can use the following command:
sudo apt-get -y purge apg
Remove apg configuration, data, and all of its dependencies
We can use the following command to remove apg configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:
sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge apg
Dependencies
apg have the following dependencies:
References
Summary
In this tutorial we learn how to install apg package on Debian 10 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.