Unable to locate package mkpasswd - Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

If your want to hash a password you can then use with Puppet or directly in /etc/shadow, you will need the mkpasswd command.

In a fresh Ubuntu Server 14.04 LTS install, this one is not present.

If you try to install it, like me, by calling :

sudo apt-get install mkpasswd 

You will end up with the following error :

E: Unable to locate package mkpasswd 

The fact is that this utility is not available on his own, but seems to comes with the whois package.

Finally, to install mkpasswd you just have to install whois :

sudo apt-get install whois