Tollef forced me to take over libpam-passwdqc after I had reported bug #517967.
passwdqc is a toolset that can be used to enforce password strength policies at exactly the right place: there’s a PAM module, and with the next version, you can also use a library and command-line tools — read on below. The toolset gives administrators flexibility in defining the minimum password length based on the number of character classes a user tries to use. It also includes libpam-cracklib functionality and prevents the use of trivial passwords.
I appreciate this functionality, so I had little choice but to make the best out of it:
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I uploaded
libpam-passwdqc1.0.5-1 to unstable, fixing a few bugs on the way, and bringing the packaging up to speed. -
I wrote a message to upstream introducing myself and was happy when I got an almost immediate response from two developers, suggesting that development was thriving. Yay!
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Having been pointed to the upstream CVS-Git clone, I based the packaging off the repository, rather than the tarballs. This required me to juggle directories a bit, as well as to repack the tarballs. Oh well.
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Next, I fixed the bug I reported, and now
libpam-passwdqccan be installed and configured in a jiffy, thanks to Steve Langasek’s impressive work on pam-auth-update. Someone also reported this feature request as LP#314775, but I don’t use Launchpad, so someone else will have to triage it there. -
Finally, I imported the latest upstream work into the repository, which had me change the source package name. The benefit of version 1.1.4 — in addition to improvements and bugs fixed — is that the functionality is now also available through client programs in the passwdqc package, as well as in an independent C library. Due to the new packages, the upload is currently waiting in the Debian NEW queue, so hold your horses for a few days.
Debhelper 7 is really nice. Thanks, Joey.
