On 16 Aug 1996, Rob Browning wrote:
> It's too bad we can't support longer passwords.  Not only are longer
> ones easier to remember sometimes, but they are harder to break.
> Something along the lines of the PGP passphrase.

        I've noticed something curious on various Unices:  I can have a 
27-character-long password any time I want.  For logins, though, login 
only cares about the first eight characters.  But to change the password, 
I have to enter the entire thing.
        I haven't tried this on Linux (yet); I'm talking more along the 
lines of SunOS, Solaris 2.x, maybe AIX 3.x.

> I'm sure there's some historical, or backward compatibility reason why
> we can't...

        Sure, that's probably the reason.  The cult of "backward
compatibility" IS, after all, responsible for far more heinous crimes, 
such as DOS' longevity...


David [EMAIL PROTECTED] aka [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Office: 3503 WeH, x86720
Go to http://www.harrybrowne96.org/
MTFBWY

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