Hello nixers,
Let me throw a brainstorming session on a question I've always wondered about.
Can a unix password contain special characters, especially spaces.
I know that this is feasible, as I've tested it on the command line. It can contain anything utf-8, even non-printable characters as long as it doesn't have the default erase or kill characters.

However, the next question is: Which utilities are going to break and which ones are going to still function properly.
Another question is, what happens when a password doesn't initially have an erase or kill character and the terminal settings are changed to make one of the character one of these. Will it then be impossible to type the password as it would erase or stop the readline? What about sending the password via other types of inputs than readline, does it still work?

Let's have a go at testing this, the downsides and upsides.