diff --git a/functions.inc.php b/functions.inc.php
index 7197e56f..19108c87 100644
--- a/functions.inc.php
+++ b/functions.inc.php
@@ -832,14 +832,13 @@ function encode_header($string, $default_charset = "utf-8") {
 
 
 
-//
-// generate_password
-// Action: Generates a random password
-// Call: generate_password ()
-//
-function generate_password() {
-    // length of the generated password
-    $length = 12;
+/**
+ * Generate a random password of $length characters.
+ * @param int $length (optional, default: 12)
+ * @return string
+ *
+ */
+function generate_password($length = 12) {
 
     // define possible characters
     $possible = "2345678923456789abcdefghijkmnpqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZ"; # skip 0 and 1 to avoid confusion with O and l
diff --git a/tests/GeneratePasswordTest.php b/tests/GeneratePasswordTest.php
index d16e2725..42462dfb 100644
--- a/tests/GeneratePasswordTest.php
+++ b/tests/GeneratePasswordTest.php
@@ -11,5 +11,18 @@ class GeneratePasswordTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase {
         $this->assertNotEquals($one, $two);
         $this->assertNotEmpty($one);
         $this->assertNotEmpty($two);
+        $this->assertEquals(12, strlen($one));
+    }
+
+    public function testLength() {
+        $one = generate_password(1);
+
+        $ten = generate_password(10);
+
+        $this->assertNotEquals($one, $ten);
+        $this->assertNotEmpty($one);
+        $this->assertNotEmpty($ten);
+        $this->assertEquals(10, strlen($ten));
+        $this->assertEquals(1, strlen($one));
     }
 }