Apple - Where is "mkpasswd" for OSX?

There's a Mac implementation of mkpasswd on GitHub - https://github.com/PrototypeAlex/mkpasswd

Alternatively, Keychain Access has a built-in GUI password generator
File menu > New Password Item... > [click the key icon]

drop-menu artificially offset for visibility

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I also found this Apple Discussion on how to achieve it natively, though it's unfortunately above my skill-level, so I'll let you see if you think it might be suitable.


I made a tool for creating mkpasswd -m sha-512 (Linux/Ubuntu) style hashes on OS X (or any platform).

First, we need to acquire a single requirement...

pip3 install passlib

Now we create mkpasswd_sha-512.py (or whatever you want to call it)...

#!/usr/bin/env python3

# based on https://stackoverflow.com/a/17992126/117471

import sys
from getpass import getpass
from passlib.hash import sha512_crypt

passwd = input() if not sys.stdin.isatty() else getpass()
print(sha512_crypt.encrypt(passwd))

It only handles a single use case of mkpasswd but if it fits, enjoy.

Note: There is a slightly more complicated version at https://gist.github.com/RichardBronosky/58f1b34d2bcf4c4e5f1cd18a88fdc37d which simplifies tuning the CPU Cost, but passlib manages that periodically for you so it's fine to keep it simple like this.


Here's the source code for mkpasswd. It's an expect script. You would have to modify the script (at least the shebang) in order for it to work. There are other command line tools such as openssl (md5), jot and dd that can generate passwords.