Generates a sequence of random characters, suitable for use as a password.

Options:

-v Display the version number

-h Display help text

-a Restrict the password to alpha-numeric characters

-n Specify the number of characters in the password

-r Force the use of the rand() call, rather than using /dev/random or /dev/urandom. Primarily useful for testing.

-m Generate a random MAC address, e.g. d2:85:e6:6b:3c:d9

$ randpass                             # Generate a random password
nqkTNY4A"lG)4ss?_%`<YS'Fj:<{sz|%
$ randpass -n50                        # Generate a 50 char password
Z$>Fh%Vu%if.O`x[RuzFV?LsirlKA4\zB%5Exq#zyu}f}&|_LS
$ randpass -n7                         # Generate a 7 char password
bcXJQ_g
$ randpass -a                          # Generate an alphanumeric password
EXTebO9TEPMh445cAXhgYD3i4ABfV6ES
$ randpass -an15                       # Generate a 15 char alphanumeric
4qCeooDmF0KjI0I
$ randpass -m                          # Generate a random MAC address
72:a8:d6:8c:49:3e

You can use randpass if you want to change your MAC address to a random value. This can be useful if you want to use a public wifi network and don't want leak information about your hardware. This is an example of how to do that on a *nix machine:

First, close your existing wifi connection. Either do this manually or with a script. On a Mac running Mountain Lion you can use:

 $ sudo /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/A/Resources/airport -z

Then, change your MAC address using randpass. This command sets the MAC address of the en1 network connection:

 $ sudo ifconfig en1 ether $(randpass -m)

The en1 connection will typically be your WiFi, but you can check by just typing 'ifconfig'. You will then need to re-connect to the network. The network will treat your machine as a different piece of hardware and allocate you a new IP address. You MAC address will be reset if you reboot.

For more on MAC spoofing see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_spoofing