Java + SH

[mac]

I need a way to securely communicate password from my jar to a ksh script so that it can later refer to it as $1

Passing it as a parameter is no good, as simple ps -wef | grep proc will show the password in clear text

I was thinking about creating a random String, and exporting it as {randomString}={realpassword} format, where {randomString} is passed to the SH script, but it seems Java's setProperty method is limited to JVM and does not extend to the outside world.

Can you make a suggestion on how to best approach this?

The task is not to write a program for Nasa, but to make sure that it at least fool proof and simple things like ps won't catch password shown in clear text

Thanks

[Norm]

Yes, you could write a simple encrypt method in Java and pass it to a script that is capable of decrypting it. How secure do you want it? If the script can be read by a programmer, it could be cut and pasted to output the password in the clear.

Sorry I really have no idea what a ksh script is.

[gcalvin]

There's really no way to do this securely. Can you take a step back and give us a look at the bigger picture? What is it you're trying to do?

-Gary-

[gcalvin]

And to answer your question more directly, probably the best work-around you can manage is to write to a file, and have your ksh script read from it.

-Gary-