RE: Which password cipher ?

[Joel Carnat <joel%carnat.net@localhost>]

-----Message initial-----
<snip>
> 
> The simple answer is password file compatibility -- other systems accept the 
> older formats.  Over the years, I've seen many instances where someone will 
> say 
> "send me your passwd file line".  DES is the most compatible; the Blowfish 
> and 
> md5 methods are used by other open source systems; the HMAC-SHA1 scheme was 
> developed for NetBSD and doesn't exist elsewhere unless they've picked up our 
> code.
> 

As a user, a message such as the one above would have helped me choose more 
easily.

Replacing the actual list with a "preferred cipher" ordered list would enable 
n00b
users like me to "click next"(c) and have a default strong encryption system
and road-warriors to still be able to configure the right cipher to integrate
there complex IT infrastructure.

BTW, I'll use SHA-1, thanks Steven :)