openwall/john

Have some *2john programs explain that it's normal to have large output

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#4,051 opened on Jul 19, 2019

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Description

Our users are often confused by the output from programs such as zip2john sometimes being very large (multi-gigabyte). Maybe we should identify and enhance these programs to output a message to stderr to explain to users that it's normal for the output to be very large - maybe always or maybe only when the output size is above a threshold (e.g., 1 million bytes?)

Contributor guide

Research direction
Look at the source code for programs like zip2john (e.g., src/zip2john.c) to understand where the output is generated. Add a conditional check on output size (e.g., after computing the hash) and use fprintf(stderr, ...) to inform the user that large output is normal. Consider implementing a threshold (e.g., 1 MB) before printing the message to avoid unnecessary warnings for small outputs. Check if there are existing similar messages in other *2john programs to maintain consistency.
Tech stack
c
Domain
clideveloper experience
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
Under 1 hour
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
C programmingunderstanding of stderr
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
85