Data-Password-Check version 0.04
===========================

NAME
    Data::Password::Check - sanity check passwords

DESCRIPTION
    Users can be lazy. If you're a perl programmer this is a good thing. If
    you're choosing a password this is a bad thing.

    This module performs some sanity checks on passwords. Details on checks
    than can be performed are described below.

SYNOPSIS
    Basic use of the module is as follows:

      use Data::Password::Check;

      # check a password
      my $pwcheck = Data::Password::Check->check({
        'password' => $some_password
      });

      # did we have any errors?
      if ($pwcheck->has_errors) {
        # print the errors
          print(
           join("\n", @{ $pwcheck->error_list }),
           "\n"
          );
      }

PUBLIC METHODS
    These methods are publically available. Use them to your heart's
    content.

  check($proto,$options)
    This is the main function for this module. You must pass one mandatory
    value in the $options hash-reference - a password:

      # check a password
      $result = Data::Password::Check->check({'password' => $pwd_to_check});

    There are other options that may be passed to invoke further password
    tests if required:

    * tests
        set this to a list of test names to replace the list of tests
        performed by the module

        e.g. tests => [ 'length' ] will make the module perfoem the length
        check only

    * tests_append
        set this to a list of additional tests to perform. This is useful if
        you want to call more tests than are in the default list, or to
        include your own tests when inheriting from this module.

        e.g. test => [ 'mytest1', 'mytest2' ] will make the module perform
        two extra tests (assuming they exist) mytest1 and mytest2.

  has_errors($class)
    This function is used to determine if there were any errors found while
    sanity checking the supplied password. It does not return the errors
    themselves.

    Returns 1 if there were errors, 0 otherwise

  error_list($class)
    This function returns an array-reference to a list of the error
    messages. If there are no errors undef is returned.

AVAILABLE CHECKS
    By default the module will perform all checks listed below. You can
    limit the number of checks by passing a list of desired tests via the
    tests option when calling check(). e.g.

      Data::Password::Check->check({
        ...
        'tests' => [ 'length' ], # check only that the password meets a minimum-length requirement
        ...
      });

  alphanumeric_only
    Make sure the password only contains a-z, A-Z and 0-9 characters.

  alphanumeric
    Make sure the password contains one of each from the following sets:
    a-z, A-Z and 0-9

  length
    Make sure the password it at least 6 characters long. If min_length was
    passed as an option to check(), this value will be used instead,
    assuming it's a positive integer.

  mixed_case
    Make sure the password is mixes case, i.e. not all lower case, nor all
    upper case

  silly
    Make sure the password isn't a known silly word (e.g 'password' is a bad
    choice for a password).

    The default list contains *qwerty*, and *password* only. You may choose
    to replace this list of words or to add your own to the end of the list.

    If you wish to replace the list of silly-words, you should pass them in
    via the options when calling check(), as 'silly_words'. e.g.

      Data::Password::Check->check({
            ...
        'silly_words' => [ 'my', 'silly', 'words' ],
            ...
      });

    If you would like to add words to the existing list, you should pass
    them in via the 'silly_words_append' option when calling check(). e.g.

      Data::Password::Check->check({
            ...
        'silly_words_append' => [ 'more', 'silly', 'words' ],
            ...
      });

    All matching is case-insensitive, and if you choose to append words,
    duplicates will be omitted.

  repeated
    Make sure the password isn't a single character repeated, e.g.
    'aaaaaaaaaa'.

PRIVATE METHODS
    These methods are private to this module. If you choose to use them
    outside the module, all bets are off.

  _do_checks($self)
    This function calls each required test in turn. It's an internal
    function called within check().

  _add_error($class,$message)
    This function is used to add an error message to the internal store. The
    errors can later be retrieved using the error_list() method.

  _skipped_test($class,$testname)
    This function exists so that it's possible to work out if a test was
    skipped because "something went wrong" - usually because of an invalid
    option passed in via the check() options.

    This function was written to enable some tests in the "make test" phase
    of installing the module.

INSTALLATION

To install this module type the following:

   perl Makefile.PL
   make
   make test
   make install

DEPENDENCIES

This module requires these other modules and libraries:

  Test::More

COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

Copyright (C) 2004 by Chisel Wright

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.2 or, at your option,
any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.