| .\" Copyright 1999 Andreas Dilger (adilger@enel.ucalgary.ca) |
| .\" |
| .\" This file may be copied under the terms of the GNU Public License. |
| .TH UUIDGEN 1 "June 2011" "util-linux" "User Commands" |
| .SH NAME |
| uuidgen \- create a new UUID value |
| .SH SYNOPSIS |
| .B uuidgen |
| [options] |
| .SH DESCRIPTION |
| The |
| .B uuidgen |
| program creates (and prints) |
| a new universally unique identifier (UUID) using the |
| .BR libuuid (3) |
| library. The new UUID can reasonably be considered unique among |
| all UUIDs created on the local system, |
| and among UUIDs created on other systems in the past |
| and in the future. |
| .PP |
| There are two types of UUIDs which |
| .B uuidgen |
| can generate: time-based UUIDs and random-based UUIDs. By default |
| .B uuidgen |
| will generate a random-based UUID if a high-quality random number |
| generator is present. Otherwise, it will choose a time-based UUID. |
| It is possible to force the generation of one of these two |
| UUID types by using the |
| .B \-r |
| or |
| .B \-t |
| options. |
| .SH OPTIONS |
| .TP |
| .BR \-r , " \-\-random" |
| Generate a random-based UUID. This method creates a UUID consisting mostly |
| of random bits. It requires that the operating system have a high |
| quality random number generator, such as |
| .IR /dev/random . |
| .TP |
| .BR \-t , " \-\-time" |
| Generate a time-based UUID. This method creates a UUID based on the system |
| clock plus the system's ethernet hardware address, if present. |
| .TP |
| .BR \-h , " \-\-help" |
| Display help text and exit. |
| .TP |
| .BR \-V , " \-\-version" |
| Display version information and exit. |
| .SH "CONFORMING TO" |
| OSF DCE 1.1 |
| .SH AUTHOR |
| .B uuidgen |
| was written by Andreas Dilger for libuuid. |
| .SH SEE ALSO |
| .BR libuuid (3) |
| .SH AVAILABILITY |
| The uuidgen command is part of the util-linux package and is available from |
| ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/. |