[joswr1ght]

Problem

Commit 28f073f (the fix for #859, first released in 9.5) changed each character set into an allow-list: every character in a password must belong to one of the given sets. The version string stayed at v0.2, and this contradicts the documented -c MINSETS behavior ("the minimum number of sets required"):

• With no sets given, nothing is output. pw-inspector -i wordlist.txt -m 10 writes an empty file.
• -l -u -n rejects any password that contains a symbol (for example, Nell-y1998), so the tool can no longer trim a wordlist to a policy like "at least one lowercase, uppercase, and number".

Fix

Restore the pre-9.5 logic: a set counts when the password contains at least one character from it, and other characters are allowed. Keep the later unsigned char buffer and bounded newline/CR stripping.

Testing

Compared against v9.4 pw-inspector on a 1M-word list. Output and return codes are byte-identical for:

-m 10, -m 10 -l -u -n, -m 8 -l -u -n -p -c 3, -l, -s, -p, -m 6 -M 8 -u -n -c 1, -l -u -n -p -s, -l -u -n -p -s -c 2, -m 10 -c 1 -l -u -n -p -s

Also matches v9.4 on input containing non-ASCII and control bytes. No new compiler warnings under -Wall -Wextra.

Note

This reverts the #859 behavior, where -l alone accepted only all-lowercase passwords. If that behavior is really what is wanted, it would be better to add an opt-in flag without changing the default (documented) behavior of pw-inspector.

Maintainer: If that's what you want, happy to add that flag. I think this PR restores the intention of pw-inspector functionality, matching the documentation.

[Copilot]

🟢 Approval recommended

There are no active review issues for the change restoring minimum-set character matching.

No open issues 🎉

What changed in this PR

Restores pw-inspector’s pre-9.5 character-set matching behavior to align with the documented minimum-set policy rather than treating selected sets as an allow-list.

Changes:

• Counts each requested set when at least one matching character is present, while allowing other characters.
• Restores length-only filtering when no character sets are selected.
• Preserves the unsigned-character buffer and bounded newline/CR stripping.

File	Description
pw-inspector.c	Restores presence-based character classification and minimum-set counting.

_{Review effort: Balanced}

[vanhauser-thc]

thanks