> > <snip> > Why are passwords restricted to a maximum length of 8, and passphrases > restricted to a minimum length of 9? >
Passwords are restricted to a max of 8 for historical reasons. They were once kept in SYS1.UADS -- the TSO repository for userids, passwords, and TSO information in the beginning (pre RACF). Why 8? Probably because everything else was of length 8, i.e. a doubleword. Passphrases are 9 or more characters so that RACF will know that it is a passphrase and not a password. I guess the developers went with the easy to test rule of "8 or less is a PASSWORD, larger is a PASSPHRASE". But that's just a guess on my part. > > -- gil > > -- This is clearly another case of too many mad scientists, and not enough hunchbacks. Maranatha! <>< John McKown ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
