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1.\" Copyright 1999 Andreas Dilger (adilger@enel.ucalgary.ca)
2.\"
3.\" This man page was created for libuuid.so.1.1 from e2fsprogs-1.14.
4.\"
5.\" This file may be copied under the terms of the GNU Public License.
6.\"
7.\" Created Wed Mar 10 17:42:12 1999, Andreas Dilger
232dc924 8.TH UUIDGEN 1 "June 2011" "util-linux" "User Commands"
0140c397 9.SH NAME
232dc924 10uuidgen \- create a new UUID value
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11.SH SYNOPSIS
12.B uuidgen
309e6a49 13[\fIoptions\fR]
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14.SH DESCRIPTION
15The
16.B uuidgen
17program creates (and prints)
18a new universally unique identifier (UUID) using the
19.BR libuuid (3)
20library. The new UUID can reasonably be considered unique among
21all UUIDs created on the local system,
22and among UUIDs created on other systems in the past
23and in the future.
24.PP
333ec749 25There are two types of UUIDs which
0140c397 26.B uuidgen
449a215f 27can generate: time-based UUIDs and random-based UUIDs. By default
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28.B uuidgen
29will generate a random-based UUID if a high-quality random number
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30generator is present. Otherwise, it will choose a time-based UUID.
31It is possible to force the generation of one of these two
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32UUID types by using the
33.B \-r
34or
35.B \-t
36options.
37.SH OPTIONS
38.TP
449a215f 39.BR \-r , " \-\-random"
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40Generate a random-based UUID. This method creates a UUID consisting mostly
41of random bits. It requires that the operating system have a high
42quality random number generator, such as
43.IR /dev/random .
44.TP
449a215f 45.BR \-t , " \-\-time"
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46Generate a time-based UUID. This method creates a UUID based on the system
47clock plus the system's ethernet hardware address, if present.
309e6a49 48.TP
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49.BR \-h , " \-\-help"
50Display help text and exit.
309e6a49 51.TP
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52.BR \-V , " \-\-version"
53Display version information and exit.
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54.SH "CONFORMING TO"
55OSF DCE 1.1
56.SH AUTHOR
57.B uuidgen
58was written by Andreas Dilger for libuuid.
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59.SH SEE ALSO
60.BR libuuid (3)
0140c397 61.SH AVAILABILITY
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62The uuidgen command is part of the util-linux package and is available from
63ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.