Re: crypt(3) interface to scrypt

[Colin Percival <cperciva@tarsnap.com>]

Solar Designer wrote:
> As far as I understand, scrypt-1.1.6 is a file encryption program only,
> however one of the primary uses for the scrypt key derivation function
> is to hash operating system and website users' passwords.

Well, I released the code with file encryption as a demonstration (both
because I wanted to provide something people could compile and run, and
because I was using scrypt for passphrasing Tarsnap key files), but the
scrypt code is entirely separate from the file encryption code.

> Does a crypt(3) interface to scrypt exist?

Not yet.

> Do you have a proposed
> encoding to use for the "setting" string (consisting of a hash type
> identifier, a salt, and parameters)?

Not yet.

> Or do you consider scrypt not mature enough, with incompatible changes
> pending?

I've been waiting to allow the cryptographic community time to inspect and
comment on scrypt before I try to push it into any standards.  It's less
than a year old, which makes it very young, cryptographically speaking.

-- 
Colin Percival
Security Officer, FreeBSD | freebsd.org | The power to serve
Founder / author, Tarsnap | tarsnap.com | Online backups for the truly paranoid