This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Ruby Buzz by Jeremy Voorhis. Original Post: Automatic password suggestion for your Rails app Feed Title: JVoorhis Feed URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/jvoorhis Feed Description: JVoorhis is a Rubyist in northeast Ohio. He rambles about Ruby on Rails, development practices, other frameworks such as Django, and on other days he is just full of snark. Latest Ruby Buzz Posts Latest Ruby Buzz Posts by Jeremy Voorhis Latest Posts From JVoorhis

Note that this will only work on UNIX systems.

module Admin::AccountsHelper
  def password_recommendation
    return "<p>Suggested password: <code>#{`apg`.split("\n").first}</code></p>" if use_apg?
  end

  # $ apg -v  
  # APG (Automated Password Generator)
  # version 2.2.3 (PRNG: X9.17/CAST)
  # Copyright (c) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Adel I. Mirzazhanov
  def use_apg?
    `apg -v`.grep( /APG \(Automated Password Generator\)/ ) ? true : false
  end
end 

  ...
  <h3><label for="user[password]">Password</label></h3>
  <div>
    <%= password_recommendation %>
    <%= password_field :user, :password %>
  </div>
  ...

If apg is available on your system, you should see something like the following in your form:

Suggested password: JidIlvEywr