In passwd, mention which variable in the notebook config to update.

IPython/lib/security.py

@@ -1,79 +1,82 b''
 """
 Password generation for the IPython notebook.
 """
 
 import hashlib
 import random
 
 def passwd(passphrase):
     """Generate hashed password and salt for use in notebook configuration.
 
+    In the notebook configuration, set `c.NotebookApp.password` to
+    the generated string.
+
     Parameters
     ----------
     passphrase : str
         Password to hash.
 
     Returns
     -------
     hashed_passphrase : str
         Hashed password, in the format 'hash_algorithm:salt:passphrase_hash'.
 
     Examples
     --------
     In [1]: passwd('mypassword')
     Out[1]: 'sha1:7cf3:b7d6da294ea9592a9480c8f52e63cd42cfb9dd12'
 
     """
     algorithm = 'sha1'
 
     h = hashlib.new(algorithm)
     salt = hex(int(random.getrandbits(16)))[2:]
     h.update(passphrase + salt)
 
     return ':'.join((algorithm, salt, h.hexdigest()))
 
 def passwd_check(hashed_passphrase, passphrase):
     """Verify that a given passphrase matches its hashed version.
 
     Parameters
     ----------
     hashed_passphrase : str
         Hashed password, in the format returned by `passwd`.
     passphrase : str
         Passphrase to validate.
 
     Returns
     -------
     valid : bool
         True if the passphrase matches the hash.
 
     Examples
     --------
     In [1]: from IPython.lib.security import passwd_check
 
     In [2]: passwd_check('sha1:7cf3:b7d6da294ea9592a9480c8f52e63cd42cfb9dd12',
        ...:              'mypassword')
     Out[2]: True
 
     In [3]: passwd_check('sha1:7cf3:b7d6da294ea9592a9480c8f52e63cd42cfb9dd12',
        ...:              'anotherpassword')
     Out[3]: False
 
     """
     # Algorithm and hash length
     supported_algorithms = {'sha1': 40}
 
     try:
         algorithm, salt, pw_digest = hashed_passphrase.split(':', 2)
     except (ValueError, TypeError):
         return False
 
     if not (algorithm in supported_algorithms and \
             len(pw_digest) == supported_algorithms[algorithm] and \
             len(salt) == 4):
         return False
 
     h = hashlib.new(algorithm)
     h.update(passphrase + salt)
 
     return h.hexdigest() == pw_digest