Change password for a given users or set of users in multiple servers

• Introduction
• Two parts passwords unique for each server
• Danger of reusing the same password
• Procedure of passwords distribution

Introduction

If you have several computer accounts, you may wish to have the same password on every machine, so you have less you need to remember. This is called password synchronization.

There are several ways to implement it:

• Using Parallel command execution tools
• Using ssh
• Using telnet
• Using some other remote execution tool or protocol (OpenView is one example)

Password synchronization can increase security if the synchronization allows you to use a good password that is hard to guess. Systems that provide for automated password synchronization make it easy to change your password and have that change reflected everywhere.

On the other hand, password synchronization can decrease security if the password is compromised—suddenly all of your accounts on multiple servers are vulnerable! Even worse, with password synchronization you may not even know that your password has been compromised!

Two parts passwords unique for each server

A better, more secure way of password synchronization is to merge password for particular server from two parts.

• The first part is common to all server and should be updated each quarter or some other suitable period. It can be generated by password generator
• the second is some function of the server name and/or DNS name.

For example if server name has unique numeric suffix like in srv251, serve 252... you can use this numeric suffix as the second pat of the password. Or just use the whole server name, or the last four characters of the server name, etc

Instead of passwords you can redistribute public SSH key (with the same period). Make sure that this key is kept encrypted using an SSH passphrase. In this case instead of password you use SSH passphrase.

Contrary to common advice in security books password can be written on a sheet of paper and stored in a safe place. Forgetting your password is a big problem and you need some help. You can also use some cheap electronic device that does not have connection to internet. Casio databank watches can be used although they do not provide case. But you can use some ticks like doubling of the letter to denote upper case letters.

Danger of reusing the same password

Password synchronization is also problematic for usernames and passwords that are used for web sites. Many people will use the same username and password at many web sites — even web sites that are potentially being run by untrustworthy individuals or organizations. A simple way to capture usernames and passwords is to set up a web site that offers "a chance of winning $10,000" to anybody who registers with an email address and sets up a password upon entry.

Procedure of passwords distribution

• Create /etc/nologin file to prevent logins to the server.
• Create random 4 letter password for each non-root user. For example you can use pwgen. The pwgen program generates passwords which are designed to be easily memorized by humans, while being as secure as possible. For example following command print the generated password:
  # pwgen -1 -n 4

  By default, pwgen utility is not installed so you need to install it for example for Debian:
  # apt-get install pwgen

  It is better to write an anvelope and generate unique for each server passowrds using the approach outlined above (two part passowrd)

• Distribute the set of generated password using ssh+chpasswd, telnet+chpasswd or some other combination generating password for each server. Utility chpasswd reads a list of pairs

  user_name:password

  from the file or STDIN and uses this information to update password for all specified users. Each line should have the same format

  Download generated each generated script on appropriate server and execute it:

  # chmod +x batch-update-password.sh
# ./batch-update-password.sh
 

• Remove /etc/nologin file:
  # rm /etc/nologin
• Check if you system can accept login one of two users,

NEWS CONTENTS

• 20130405 : Change password for users in multiple servers... [SOLVED] ( Dec 14, 2010 , Toolbox for IT Groups )
• 20130405 : Setting a user passwd ( Setting a user passwd, )
• 19970811 : SUMMARY: non-interactive password changing ( Aug 11, 1997 )
• 19970811 : Managing Passwords ( Managing Passwords, )
• 19970811 : Re: Chpasswd Solution?: msg#00004 ( )
• 19970811 : General Solaris 10 Discussion - chpasswd ( General Solaris 10 Discussion - chpasswd, )

Old News ;-)

[Apr 05, 2013] Change password for users in multiple servers... [SOLVED]

Dec 14, 2010 | Toolbox for IT Groups

Q: Shiva:

Hi gurus,

how to change password for a particular user on multiple AIX servers ?

Hlp plz......as we have 200 servers .... its tedious to login in to the servers & change the password for servers....

A:

You should consider to write a shell/perl script, if shell, use expect to pass the password during the runtime, perl however has a perl::expect module to achieve this. You can run the script from one central server with trusted ssh perhaps from a NIM server, to login onto all servers one by one and change the password. Below is a perl script that I wrote long back, it may help you..

#!/usr/bin/perl -w 
#autopasswd.pl 
#Requires Expect module, for details www.cpan.org 
#1 Sep 2006, Shak 
use warnings; 
use Expect; 
my $uname = "xyz"; 
my $pass = "***"; 
$chpasswd = Expect->spawn("passwd $uname"); 
$match = $chpasswd->expect (30, "$uname."'s" New password:"); 
print $chpasswd "$pass\n"; 
$match = $chpasswd->expect (30, "Enter the new password again:"); 
print $chpasswd "$pass\n";

====

Hi,

You can run the script from one central server with trusted ssh.

put the userids need to reset the password into file, for example

/tmp/test 
# cat /tmp/test 
user1 
user2 
user3 
after that create a script : 
##################################################### 
for USERID in `cat /tmp/test` ; do 
echo "$USERID:${USERID}123"| chpasswd 
ssh server1 "echo "$USERID:${USERID}123"| chpasswd" 
ssh server2 "echo "$USERID:${USERID}123"| chpasswd" 
ssh server200 "echo "$USERID:${USERID}123"| chpasswd" # ssh 
server1....server200 
done 
########################################################### 

The script will reset userid's password in file /tmp/test and password
will reset to initial <userid>123

Setting a user passwd

Hi, I am developing a program that sets passwd for any user but i dont
want the operator sets the passwd. I want to give it as a result of a
function

[victor [at] mail victor]$ perl passwd.pl victor1

#!/usr/bin/perl
$usuario=3D$ARGV[0];
$passwd=3D"PASSWDGENERATEBYOTHERFUNCTION"
`sudo /usr/sbin/useradd -c $usuario -s /sbin/nologin $usuario`;
`sudo /usr/bin/passwd $usuario`;

I could add the user, but in the set passwd line.
When I use this script always I have a prompt of password assigment that
I dont want. Could you give me some light of what can I do?

Thanks in advance,

Victor

------=_NextPart_000_0017_01C58E2E.B5569F80--

Victor Pezo [ Fr, 22 Juli 2005 02:59 ] [ ID #891114 ]

RE: setting a user passwd

Victor Pezo wrote:
> Hi, I am developing a program that sets passwd for any user but i
> dont want the operator sets the passwd. I want to give it as a result
> of a function
>
> [victor [at] mail victor]$ perl passwd.pl victor1
>
> #!/usr/bin/perl
> $usuario=$ARGV[0];
> $passwd="PASSWDGENERATEBYOTHERFUNCTION"
> `sudo /usr/sbin/useradd -c $usuario -s /sbin/nologin $usuario`;
> `sudo /usr/bin/passwd $usuario`;
>
> I could add the user, but in the set passwd line.
> When I use this script always I have a prompt of password assigment
> that I dont want. Could you give me some light of what can I do?

The classic answer to this is to use the Expect module, because passwd(1)
historically has read only from /dev/tty.

However, if you're on Linux, passwd(1) has a --stdin option that lets you
supply the password via standard input. So you could write something like
(untested):

system "echo \Q$passwd\E | sudo /usr/bin/passwd --stdin \Q$usario\E";

--
To unsubscribe, e-mail: beginners-unsubscribe [at] perl.org
For additional commands, e-mail: beginners-help [at] perl.org
<http://learn.perl.org/> <http://learn.perl.org/first-response>

[Aug 11, 1997] SUMMARY: non-interactive password changing

From: Wales Wong ([email protected])
Date: Mon Aug 11 1997 - 04:44:19 CDT

• Next message: Josh Kuperman: "Summary: identd and pidentd"
• Previous message: Marina Daniels: "SUMMARY 2: compiling INN1.5.1sec2 -"
• Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]

Dear Managers,

Thanks for all the prompt response. \

Original question:
> Because of the system migration, I have to create a lot of
> users. This can easily be done by using useradd. The accounts
> created by useradd are locked until passwd is called to change
> the password.
>
> Unfortunately, I can't find a non-interactive way to
> change the password. It's a pain if I have to change
> the password manually.
>
> Question:
> Is there any menthod that I can change the passwords of 300+ users with little pain?

Answers:

I received valuable help from:
Kumara Swamy-WIPRO-NA <[email protected]>
Stefan Voss <[email protected]>
Stephen Harris <[email protected]>
and those I haven't received yet.

With the help from one of my colleague, I solve my problem by
writing a simple expect script. The env variables UNAME and UPASS
carry the username and password respectively.

#!/usr/local/bin/expect -f 
	set username $env(UNAME) 
	set password $env(UPASS) 
	spawn passwd $username 
	expect "New password:" 
	send "$password\r" 
	expect "Re-enter new password:" 
	send "$password\r" 
	send "exit\r" 
	expect eof 

Managing Passwords

Changing Passwords in a Batch

On a large system, there might be times when a large number of users and their passwords need some attention. The super user can change passwords in a batch by using the chpasswd command, which accepts input as a name/password pair per line in the following form:

$ sudo chpasswd username:password

Passwords can be changed en masse by redirecting a list of name and password pairs to the command. An appropriate shell script can be constructed with the information gleaned from Chapter 15.

However, Ubuntu also provides the newusers command to add users in a batch from a text file. This command also allows a user to be added to a group, and a new directory can be added for the user, too.

Hi Managers,

Here is the more compact version updated script . Thanks to "Andrew
Hall" for advising me to use case statement.This avoids using NFS mount.

#!/usr/bin/ksh -x
########################################################################
########
#Script Written on 27th June 05 .
#This script is used to change the root password of all unix hosts
#Make sure /usr/sysadm/scripts/minoti/all-hosts is updated with live
hosts before running this script
########################################################################
#######

for i in `cat /usr/sysadm/scripts/minoti/test-hosts`
do
OS=`remsh $i uname`
case $OS in
SunOS) rsh $i "rm /tmp/shad*"
rsh $i "cp -p /etc/shadow /etc/shadow.2706"
rsh $i "cat /etc/shadow|grep -v root>/tmp/shad1"
rsh $i "echo "root:1EDHxu0aw6jRE:12958::::::">/tmp/shad2"
rsh $i "cat /tmp/shad1>>/tmp/shad2"
rsh $i "cp /tmp/shad2 /etc/shadow"
rsh $i "/usr/sbin/pwconv"
rsh $i "chown root:sys /etc/shadow"
rsh $i "chmod 400 /etc/shadow"
;;
HP-UX) rsh $i "rm /tmp/shad*"
rsh $i "rm /tmp/pass*"
rsh $i "cp -p /etc/passwd /etc/passwd.2706"
rsh $i "cat /etc/passwd|grep -v root>/tmp/shad1"
rsh $i "echo "root:WkmiDJgfPbUB.:0:3::/:/sbin/sh">/tmp/shad2"
rsh $i "cat /tmp/shad1>>/tmp/shad2"
rsh $i "cp /tmp/shad2 /etc/passwd"
rsh $i "chown root:other /etc/passwd"
rsh $i "chmod 444 /etc/passwd"
;;
Linux) rsh $i "rm /tmp/shad*"
rsh $i "cp -p /etc/shadow /etc/shadow.2706"
rsh $i "cat /etc/shadow|grep -v root>/tmp/shad1"
rsh $i "echo
'root:"$"1"$"hluzjp3u"$"bwx/ZLLAM4qANpMXTvBLz1:12961:0:99999:7:::'>/tmp/
shad2"
rsh $i "cat /tmp/shad1>>/tmp/shad2"
rsh $i "cp /tmp/shad2 /etc/shadow"
rsh $i "/usr/sbin/pwconv"
rsh $i "chown root:root /etc/shadow"
rsh $i "chmod 400 /etc/shadow"
;;
IRIX*) rsh $i "rm /tmp/shad*"
rsh $i "/sbin/cp -p /etc/shadow /etc/shadow.2706"
rsh $i "/sbin/cat /etc/shadow|grep -v root>/tmp/shad1"
rsh $i "/sbin/echo "root:kN6gTIyyu5foo:12958::::::">/tmp/shad2"
rsh $i "/sbin/cat /tmp/shad1>>/tmp/shad2"
rsh $i "/sbin/cp /tmp/shad2 /etc/shadow"
rsh $i "/sbin/pwconv"
rsh $i "chown root:sys /etc/shadow"
rsh $i "chmod 400 /etc/shadow"
;;
*) echo "platform $OS not supported"
;;
esac
done

Regards
Minoti Koul

-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Hall [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 6:20 PM
To: Koul, Minoti
Subject: Re: SUMMARY: Script for changing the password

FYI,

If you want to only have one pass.sh script you could do this

#!/bin/sh

case $1 in $OS
"HP-UX")
hppass.sh contents here
;;
"SunOS")
sunpass.sh contents here
;;
"IRIX64")
sgipass.sh contents here
;;
"Linux")
linuxpass.sh contents here
;;
*)
echo "I don't know about $OS"
exit 1
;;
esac

Basically you would have one script that is run on each machine and runs
the appropriate code based upon $OS. And to take it a step further, you
could change your "if [ $OS =" lines to a case statement. Just and FYI
hoping to help.

HTH,

Drew

Koul, Minoti wrote:

> Thanks for all the valuable replies I got .
>
>1.Anthony D'Atri [[email protected]]
>2.Tony van Lingen [[email protected]] 3.Tim Evans
>[[email protected]] 4.Polachak, Jason M CTR NAVSEA
>[[email protected]#### Jason,Let me know if it helps
>5.JULIAN, JOHN C (AIT) [[email protected]] 6.Andrew Hall
>[[email protected]] [email protected] 8.David Ledger

>[[email protected]] 9.Shaw, Kevin [[email protected]]
>
>I should have mentioned in my original post that mine was hetrogeneous
>env. Solaris,HP-UX,AIX,SuSE,RedHat,SGI.....
>Lot of people recommended using expect but installing expect on all
>platforms was a huge effort.This is how I finally did (again a crude
>way as I had called in my original post)
>
>
>root@pnqccase2:>cat changepass.sh
>###################################################################
>
>#!/usr/bin/ksh -x
>for i in `cat /usr/sysadm/scripts/minoti/all-hosts` # 200 odd unix
>systems do OS=`remsh $i uname`
>
> if [ $OS = "HP-UX" ]
>then
> rsh $i "/u/koulmin/scripts/hppass.sh" #/u/koulmin is an
>automount
>fi
>
> if [ $OS = "SunOS" ]
>then
> rsh $i "/u/koulmin/scripts/sunpass.sh"
>fi
>
> if [ $OS = "IRIX64" ]
>then
> rsh $i "/u/koulmin/scripts/sgipass.sh"
>fi
>
> if [ $OS = "Linux" ]
>then
> rsh $i "/u/koulmin/scripts/linuxpass.sh"
>fi
>done
>#######################################################################
>#
>#####
>Here are the contents of /u/koulmin/scripts/sunpass.sh
>
>#/bin/ksh -x
>rm /tmp/shad*
>cp -p /etc/shadow /etc/shadow.2406
>cat /etc/shadow|grep -v root>/tmp/shad1 echo
>"root:1EDHxu0aw6jRE:12958::::::">/tmp/shad2 #encripted string of
>changed password.
>cat /tmp/shad1>>/tmp/shad2
>cp /tmp/shad2 /etc/shadow
>/usr/sbin/pwconv
>chown root:sys /etc/shadow
>chmod 400 /etc/shadow
>#######################################################################
>#
>########
>Here are the contents of /u/koulmin/scripts/hppass.sh Remember HP-UX
>does not maintain shadow file
>
>root@pnqccase2:>cat /u/koulmin/scripts/hppass.sh #/bin/ksh -x rm
>/tmp/shad* rm /tmp/pass* cp -p /etc/passwd /etc/passwd.2406 cat
>/etc/passwd|grep -v root>/tmp/shad1 echo
>"root:WkmiDJgfPbUB.:0:3::/:/sbin/sh">/tmp/shad2
>cat /tmp/shad1>>/tmp/shad2
>cp /tmp/shad2 /etc/passwd
>chown root:other /etc/passwd
>#######################################################################
>#
>#############
>And so on for all platforms
>
>Thanks once again to all who spared some time to share their valuable
>inputs.
>

>-----Original Message-----
>From: [email protected]
>[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Koul, Minoti
>Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2005 11:03 AM
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: Script for changing the password
>
>Hi Managers,
>I am in a situation wherein I have to change root password of 100 odd
>unix boxes. I wanted to do the same via a script.
>
>I used to do it the crude way
>#!/bin/ksh -x
>cp -p /etc/shadow /etc/shadow.11
>cat /etc/shadow|grep -v root>/tmp/shad1 echo
>"root:O75xmUttfitCw:12794::::::">>/tmp/shad2 ## here I am echoing the
>encripted string for new password"
>cat /tmp/shad1>>/tmp/shad2
>cp /tmp/shad2 /etc/shadow
>/usr/sbin/pwconv
>chown root:sys /etc/shadow
>chmod 400 /etc/shadow
>
>I understand that we can input the new password via a script using !! .
>But have'nt been able to do this successfully.
>Can you please help out.
>

Re: Chpasswd Solution?: msg#00004

* Matthew Alton <Simplicissimus-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
[2006-03-30 18:06]:
> Hiya folks,
> 
> I routinely use a utility called "chpasswd" on AIX and Red Hat Linux.
> I sure would like to use this utility on Solaris but it does not exist
> and I can't seem to find a reasonable alternative.  I'll write the
> danged thing if I have to.  Do I have to?  Enquiring minds want to
> know.
> 
> Here the spec.  Syntax: chpasswd [ -e | -h ].  Pretty simple stuff in
> theory.  The "e" switch tells the program that we are passing it an
> already encrypted password, so use it verbatim, otherwise we use
> crypt(3) on "password."  The "h" switch get you the usage blurb.  The
> program simply reads "username:password" pairs from stdin and changes
> the system password of "username" to "password" of all things.  The
> glory of the thing is that it is scriptable so you can do cute things
> like "cat foo.txt | chpasswd" and no, it won't work with "passwd"
> because that program makes sure you're not piping to it.  I'm truly
> not interested in PAM and NIS.  If I write this thing, it's going to
> lock and alter /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow and call it a day.  No root
> UID?  Whine & fail.  Frankly, I find PAM somewhat less than
> comprehensible.
> 
> I've found the "shadow" stuff and the CGIpaf and a few others.  These
> will provide reference material but not much else.  Is there a true
> chpasswd for Solaris?
> 
> I'm going to write the thing, amn't I?  Well, when I do, I'll post it
> here.  That'll do some good, right?

  As far as I know, we don't have chpasswd in OpenSolaris.  The
  PAM/passwd folks will definitely know--they will be listening in the
  Security community, if they aren't watching here.

  You can also submit a bug to the bug database, so that the whole
  community.  See

  http://bugs.opensolaris.org

  (You must be a registered user to submit a bug.)

  - Stephen

-- 
Stephen Hahn, PhD  Solaris Kernel Development, Sun Microsystems
stephen.hahn-xsfywfwIY+M@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  http://blogs.sun.com/sch/

General Solaris 10 Discussion - chpasswd

chpasswd
Jan 16, 2007 2:39 AM

does sun have an equivalent to the chpasswd in linux?

mAbrante
Posts:1,595
Registered: 8/19/05

Re: chpasswd
Jan 16, 2007 3:26 AM (reply 1 of 6)

Not as such (at least not that i know of). But its probably an quite easy script to write. As an alternative you can edit the /etc/passwd file manually or use usermod.

.7/M.

samscreen
Posts:6
Registered: 2/13/05 Re: chpasswd Jan 17, 2007 12:43 AM (reply 2 of 6)

yip but with chpasswd you can use excel to import all the users names then put in a password and copy down for the 1000 users and run it through the command and all the passwords are changed.

really great when you are installing a system and have setup the users now have to setup a specific password for the users.
Registered: 8/19/05

Re: chpasswd
Jan 17, 2007 5:49 AM (reply 3 of 6)

Can't you just copy the passwd/shadow files from another system in that case? Or implement a namingservice.

.7/M.

alan.pae
Posts:540
Registered: 9/6/06

Re: chpasswd Jan 17, 2007 1:50 PM (reply 4 of 6)

what does chpasswd do said the non lnux person.

alan

mAbrante
Posts:1,595
Registered: 8/19/05

Re: chpasswd Jan 18, 2007 6:44 AM (reply 5 of 6)

Relevant question. A person i know who have a linux box sent me the following extract from the manpage.

NAME
chpasswd - update password file in batch

SYNOPSIS
chpasswd [-e]

DESCRIPTION
chpasswd reads a file of user name and password pairs from
standard input and uses this information to update a group
of existing users. Without the -e switch, the passwords
are expected to be cleartext. With the -e switch, the
passwords are expected to be in encrypted form. Each line
is of the format

user_name:password

The named user must exist. The supplied password will be
encrypted as necessary, and the password age updated, if
present.

This command is intended to be used in a large system
environment where many accounts are created at a single
time.

.7/M.

alan.pae
Posts:540
Registered: 9/6/06

Re: chpasswd
Jan 18, 2007 1:13 PM (reply 6 of 6)

I've never heard of anything like this for Solaris. Even a naming service doesn't fit the bill as they still require you to enter the passwords, clear text, by hand, and then they are converted to some hash.

You could try compiling chpasswd on Solaris, or if it's a script file, you could just try running the script. A test box would be great for this endeavor.

If not, then it sounds like you could write some code that parses a file and feeds the information to the passwd command.

You could search around on O'Reilly's Code Zoo or Google has something to similar to that nowadays.

Looks like you're going to need a coder for this one.

alan

Recommended Links

Softpanorama Recommended

Top articles

Sites

• chpasswd
• puppet - How to edit -etc-shadow on many Linux servers - Server Fault

• Parallel command execution

• Password synchronization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Reference

chpasswd [ -R load_module ] [ -e ] [ -f flags | -c ]

The chpasswd command administers users' passwords. The root user can supply or change users' passwords specified through standard input. Each line of input must be of the following format.

username:password

Only root users can set passwords with this command.

By default, the chpasswd command sets the ADMCHG flag for the users. The -f option may be used with other valid flags to override the default. The -c option clears all password flags.

The password field can be cleartext or a value encrypted with the crypt algorithm. The -e option indicates that passwords are of encrypted format. Please note that all passwords in a batch must conform to the same format.

Flags

Security

Access Control: Only root users should have execute (x) access to this command. The command should have the trusted computing base attribute.

Examples

1. To set passwords for users from the command line, type:

   chpasswd

   Followed by entering username:password pairs, one pair per line. Enter CTRL+D when finished.

   user1:passwd1
   user2:passwd2
   CTRL+D

2. To set passwords for users contained in a file named mypwdfile, type the following:

   cat mypwdfile | chpasswd
   

   Note that mypwdfile must contain username:password pairs; one pair per line. For example:

   user1:passwd1
   user2:passwd2
   ...
   

Files

#!/bin/bash
# Script to update user password in batch mode
# You must be a root user to use this script
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Copyright (c) 2005 nixCraft project <http://cyberciti.biz/fb/>
# This script is licensed under GNU GPL version 2.0 or above
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
# This script is part of nixCraft shell script collection (NSSC)
# Visit http://bash.cyberciti.biz/ for more information.
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# /root is good place to store clear text password
FILE="/root/batch.passwd"

# Uncomment following line if you want immediately update all users password,
# be careful with this option, it is recommended that you review $FILE first
# chpasswd < $FILE

Etc

Society

Groupthink : Two Party System as Polyarchy : Corruption of Regulators : Bureaucracies : Understanding Micromanagers and Control Freaks : Toxic Managers :   Harvard Mafia : Diplomatic Communication : Surviving a Bad Performance Review : Insufficient Retirement Funds as Immanent Problem of Neoliberal Regime : PseudoScience : Who Rules America : Neoliberalism  : The Iron Law of Oligarchy : Libertarian Philosophy

Quotes

War and Peace : Skeptical Finance : John Kenneth Galbraith :Talleyrand : Oscar Wilde : Otto Von Bismarck : Keynes : George Carlin : Skeptics : Propaganda  : SE quotes : Language Design and Programming Quotes : Random IT-related quotes :  Somerset Maugham : Marcus Aurelius : Kurt Vonnegut : Eric Hoffer : Winston Churchill : Napoleon Bonaparte : Ambrose Bierce :  Bernard Shaw : Mark Twain Quotes

Bulletin:

Vol 25, No.12 (December, 2013) Rational Fools vs. Efficient Crooks The efficient markets hypothesis : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2013 : Unemployment Bulletin, 2010 :  Vol 23, No.10 (October, 2011) An observation about corporate security departments : Slightly Skeptical Euromaydan Chronicles, June 2014 : Greenspan legacy bulletin, 2008 : Vol 25, No.10 (October, 2013) Cryptolocker Trojan (Win32/Crilock.A) : Vol 25, No.08 (August, 2013) Cloud providers as intelligence collection hubs : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : Inequality Bulletin, 2009 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Copyleft Problems Bulletin, 2004 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Energy Bulletin, 2010 : Malware Protection Bulletin, 2010 : Vol 26, No.1 (January, 2013) Object-Oriented Cult : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2011 : Vol 23, No.11 (November, 2011) Softpanorama classification of sysadmin horror stories : Vol 25, No.05 (May, 2013) Corporate bullshit as a communication method  : Vol 25, No.06 (June, 2013) A Note on the Relationship of Brooks Law and Conway Law

History:

Fifty glorious years (1950-2000): the triumph of the US computer engineering : Donald Knuth : TAoCP and its Influence of Computer Science : Richard Stallman : Linus Torvalds  : Larry Wall  : John K. Ousterhout : CTSS : Multix OS Unix History : Unix shell history : VI editor : History of pipes concept : Solaris : MS DOS :  Programming Languages History : PL/1 : Simula 67 : C : History of GCC development :  Scripting Languages : Perl history   : OS History : Mail : DNS : SSH : CPU Instruction Sets : SPARC systems 1987-2006 : Norton Commander : Norton Utilities : Norton Ghost : Frontpage history : Malware Defense History : GNU Screen : OSS early history

Classic books:

The Peter Principle : Parkinson Law : 1984 : The Mythical Man-Month :  How to Solve It by George Polya : The Art of Computer Programming : The Elements of Programming Style : The Unix Hater’s Handbook : The Jargon file : The True Believer : Programming Pearls : The Good Soldier Svejk : The Power Elite

Most popular humor pages:

Manifest of the Softpanorama IT Slacker Society : Ten Commandments of the IT Slackers Society : Computer Humor Collection : BSD Logo Story : The Cuckoo's Egg : IT Slang : C++ Humor : ARE YOU A BBS ADDICT? : The Perl Purity Test : Object oriented programmers of all nations : Financial Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : The Most Comprehensive Collection of Editor-related Humor : Programming Language Humor : Goldman Sachs related humor : Greenspan humor : C Humor : Scripting Humor : Real Programmers Humor : Web Humor : GPL-related Humor : OFM Humor : Politically Incorrect Humor : IDS Humor : "Linux Sucks" Humor : Russian Musical Humor : Best Russian Programmer Humor : Microsoft plans to buy Catholic Church : Richard Stallman Related Humor : Admin Humor : Perl-related Humor : Linus Torvalds Related humor : PseudoScience Related Humor : Networking Humor : Shell Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2012 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2013 : Java Humor : Software Engineering Humor : Sun Solaris Related Humor : Education Humor : IBM Humor : Assembler-related Humor : VIM Humor : Computer Viruses Humor : Bright tomorrow is rescheduled to a day after tomorrow : Classic Computer Humor

The Last but not Least Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand ~Archibald Putt. Ph.D

The statements, views and opinions presented on this web page are those of the author (or referenced source) and are not endorsed by, nor do they necessarily reflect, the opinions of the Softpanorama society. We do not warrant the correctness of the information provided or its fitness for any purpose. The site uses AdSense so you need to be aware of Google privacy policy. You you do not want to be tracked by Google please disable Javascript for this site. This site is perfectly usable without Javascript.

Last modified: March 12, 2019