From 24aebc2729baaa231ba2e170bc5750995d5b1d52 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dennis Eriksen <d@ennis.no>
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2023 07:45:58 +0200
Subject: Throw away $RANDOM numbers at the right places

I got some suspiciously similar passwords and had to take a closer look
to make sure we throw away $RANDOM at the right places.

$RANDOM - from the zsh documentation:
> The values of RANDOM form an intentionally-repeatable pseudo-random sequence;
> subshells that reference RANDOM will result in identical pseudo-random values
> unless the value of RANDOM is referenced or seeded in the parent shell in
> between subshell invocations.

I think it's fixed now.
---
 makepass.zsh | 17 +++++++++++++----
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/makepass.zsh b/makepass.zsh
index cc3d404..11e6f69 100755
--- a/makepass.zsh
+++ b/makepass.zsh
@@ -43,6 +43,14 @@ typeset -ga  WORDS      # Array of words from WORDLIST
 typeset -gi  COL_WIDTH  # Width of columns we will be printing
 typeset -gi  COL_NUM    # Number of columns to print
 
+# GOTCHAs:
+#
+# $RANDOM - from the zsh documentation:
+# > The values of RANDOM form an intentionally-repeatable pseudo-random sequence;
+# > subshells that reference RANDOM will result in identical pseudo-random values
+# > unless the value of RANDOM is referenced or seeded in the parent shell in
+# > between subshell invocations. 
+# So remember to throw away a $RANDOM between subshell invocations!
 
 #
 # Functions
@@ -117,15 +125,15 @@ function main() {
   # Print!
   #
 
-  print_columns "Passwords with special characters" $NUMBER $NORMAL
+  print_columns "Normal passwords" $NUMBER $NORMAL
 
-  print; : $RANDOM # Just to make sure we get a fresh number
+  print; : $RANDOM # Throw away
 
   print_columns "Passwords with special characters" $((NUMBER/3*2+1)) $SPECIAL
 
   # Passphrases - but only if a wordlist is available
   if [[ -r $WORDLIST ]] && ((NUMBER / 2 > 0)); then
-    print; : $RANDOM
+    print; : $RANDOM # Throw away
     print "Passphrases:"
     # Read wordlist into array
     WORDS=(${(f)"$(<$WORDLIST)"})
@@ -136,12 +144,13 @@ function main() {
 
 # Function to print passwords in neat columns
 function print_columns() {
+  : $RANDOM # Throw away
   local title=$1
   local num=$2
   local chars=$3
   local -i i=0
 
-  local strings=($(repeat $num { randstring $chars; : $RANDOM }))
+  local strings=($(repeat $num { randstring $chars }))
 
   print -- "${title}:"
 
-- 
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