Thomas' Tidbits: A few tidbits from Thomas about a variety of topics like programming, gaming, sports and other things.

Migrating pwman3 Database

By: Thomas Hawkins     Published Date: 2009-03-13 18:45:00

linux password management pwman3

I recently updated my server and I store a good number of passwords in my pwman database. It is a great little command line program for storing passwords in a secure manner. I do this so that I can log into my machine from anywhere in the world to retrieve passwords if needed, and I’m not tied to a thumb drive that I could lose/break, or a computer that may not have the necessary OS/ports for me to use.

If you need to migrate your database, you can follow these steps:

1. Grab a copy of your old database. It is usually called pwman.db and is stored in your /home/yourname/.pwman/ If you can’t find it, there is a config file in this directory that will tell you where it is.
2. Install pwman3 on your new server. (command for Debian based Linux OSes)
   apt-get install pwman3
3. Run pwman3 and configure the same master password as your old database. (Not sure if this is required, but I thought it was a good idea)
4. Make a copy of your database, and then put your old one in your new /home/yourname/.pwman/ folder.

The next time you run pwman3, you will have all your old passwords!