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Ask HN: Password manager with best experience on Linux?

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Re: Ask HN: Password manager with best experience on Linux?

#42

KeepassXC ( https://keepassxc.org ) combined with: * It's browser plugin ( https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/keepassxc-browser/ ) * Syncthing ( https://syncthing.net/ ) to synchronize across devices and mobile * Keepass2Android Offline for Mobile access ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=keepass2androi... ) Then the experience is close to Lastpass but only using opensource components.

Another vote for this setup. It works on all of my devices, it's FOSS, and my passwords are stored in a regular file that I can synchronize however I want. I also like the user interface.

The one downside is that the iOS client is unmaintained. I know nothing about crypto so I'm unfortunately not in a good position to contribute.

Re: Ask HN: Password manager with best experience on Linux?

#43

KeepassXC ( https://keepassxc.org ) combined with: * It's browser plugin ( https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/keepassxc-browser/ ) * Syncthing ( https://syncthing.net/ ) to synchronize across devices and mobile * Keepass2Android Offline for Mobile access ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=keepass2androi... ) Then the experience is close to Lastpass but only using opensource components.

I too use KeePassXC, because I've used KeePass on Windows (and Android) for years and KeePassXC distributes an AppImage[0]. I just store the DB on Dropbox though. However, I've used Syncthing for projects at work and can recommend it as an alternative.

[0]https://github.com/keepassxreboot/keepassxc/releases/downloa...

Re: Ask HN: Password manager with best experience on Linux?

#44

I use Bitwarden on Linux, macOS, and iOS. It works fine; you may need to sync by clicking a button, and I use AppImages on Linux and I think I need to manually download updated images, but otherwise it's free and open source, the pricing reflects hosting and development costs. I think Bitwarden also supports 2FA. I tried 1Password and switched halfway to Bitwarden; I think there's a quant firm that reviewed password…

I'm also a big fan of Bitwarden. I use it on Linux, my wife uses it on macOS, and we both use it on iOS. It allows us to share passwords seamlessly across all platforms.

I also like the command-line app that I can integrate into dmenu and the fact that it allows self-hosting.

Re: Ask HN: Password manager with best experience on Linux?

#45
post #5

Bitwarden

+1 for Bitwarden. Free for teams of 2 (perfect for my wife & me) and has a linux app. Runs great on my thinkpad running pop_os!

Curious, how did you come to the decision to run pop_os on non-System76 hardware? I've found pop_os and ubuntu similar enough that they've proven interchangeable.

And how is the experience?

Re: Ask HN: Password manager with best experience on Linux?

#46
post #16

1passwordx nowadays is actually better than my 1password OSX experience. You should try it. I'm slowly moving myself off of OSX over to manjaro and I was shocked at how good 1px worked. It's more "the full app" than it is a "mini mini" like I assumed it'd be, but admittedly I haven't used it for a full 8 hour work day yet so maybe I'll have complaints in a few months. I cannot wait to finally get off of 1password com…

1Password's Android app definitely has the password generator, it's the little gear next to the password field.

Re: Ask HN: Password manager with best experience on Linux?

#47
Bitwarden on Amazon Lightsail server. It costs $3.50/mo to self-host which is very competitive comparing to paid password managers.

I use bitwarden_rs[0] server written in Rust which is much lighter implementation you can run on cheapest 512mb instance. Official bitwarden[1] server is using docker and mssql which requires a lot of RAM.

You can run it on Linux through Firefox extension as well as on any operating system, including iOS and Android (native app). iOS and Android apps have system Password Manager integration which allows you to skip running app manually in most cases.

[0]: https://github.com/dani-garcia/bitwarden_rs

[1]: https://github.com/bitwarden/server

Re: Ask HN: Password manager with best experience on Linux?

#48

I use pass[0], which is essentially just a wrapper on top of Git and GPG. All your secrets are stored in text files that are then encrypted by your GPG key, which is then tracked in a Git repo that you can store anywhere. I use the PassFF extension[1] for Firefox, and Password Store for Android[2]. There are plenty of pass-compatible clients for all platforms and extensions for pass on the first site. If I need to ge…

I didn't know about this one, but looks perfect.

Thank you.

Re: Ask HN: Password manager with best experience on Linux?

#49
post #21
post #6

Honest question: why doesn’t everyone just use hash functions for passwords. Generating a Base64 string from a secret salt + the website name sounds ideal. This is what I do, and it works very well.

Huh? How is this a solution? If your password gets leaked I can just: recognise that it's base64, decode it, see your salt and then all of your other passwords are essentially open to me? Edit: Oh, is the salt different for each site? I don't get why you'd ever do this instead of generating an entirely new password though, you aren't solving the storage problem.

I think you missed the "use hash functions" part. it would be something like base64(H(salt||example.com:1)). The ":1" suffix is there for when you have to change your password, you can increment to ":2" because : is not valid in a domain name.

This doesn't solve all the other problems with this system, like what if there are multiple logins on the same domain? what if the site has esoteric password requirements? what if the requirements change? if your salt leaks you don't have a list of sites to know to go change your password. etc etc. Not my favorite solution for practical reasons, but it's cryptographically reasonable at least.

Re: Ask HN: Password manager with best experience on Linux?

#50
post #6

Honest question: why doesn’t everyone just use hash functions for passwords. Generating a Base64 string from a secret salt + the website name sounds ideal. This is what I do, and it works very well.

Standard issues with these derived password schemes:

* Are you sure your algorithm can't be reversed?

* What do you do if your normal username is taken?

* What do you do when the site's name changes?

* How do you handle forbidden and mandatory characters?

* How do you handle forced rotation?

* What about extraneous crap like security questions, phone PINs, emails, related sites, &c.?

* How do you access it on other devices?

* How can you track down old accounts to close them down?

If you go on listing the issues, you wind up writing the requirements document for a password manager.

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