Password Safe

Password Safe at a glance

Password Safe is an open-source password manager that keeps credentials in a locally stored, encrypted database file rather than in a cloud account. Originally designed by Bruce Schneier, it is maintained today as a community project. In administrative use it serves as a lean store for service, break-glass and appliance accounts, with the database file kept on an encrypted volume, a file share or inside a separated management network.

The project maintains two independently numbered release lines: the original Windows application and the port for Linux, macOS and FreeBSD. New builds appear several times a year, and general releases are often preceded by an explicitly marked pre-release. Security fixes ship inside the same line; there is no separate patch channel.

When updating, back up the database file before a newer build opens it for the first time: the file format is extended occasionally, and older installations can then no longer read the extended file. Anyone serving both Windows workstations and Unix systems should track the two lines separately, because their version numbers are not comparable. The program ships no self-updater, so rollout belongs in your regular software distribution.