Crypt(1)
October 29, 2019
I was surprised to learn recently that modern Linux systems do not provide a crypt command, which was common in older Unix systems. So I decided to write one.
The interface to crypt is simple: it reads from standard input and writes to standard output, requesting a key from the console using a method that doesn’t echo the key to the screen. The program has no command-line arguments.
The cipher is symmetric, so encryption and decryption use the same key; the ciphering algorithm I choose is <a href="“>RC4-drop512, which isn’t exactly state-of-the-art encryption, but is simple and good enough for casual use. The base algorithm is RC4; dropping the first 512 characters of the generated keystream eliminates a potential weakness in the bas RC4 key scheduling algorithm.
Your task is to write a crypt program as described above. When you are finished, you are welcome to read a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.
Programming Praxis 