Migrating from KeePass to Password Safe (FOSS)

First of all, when I say "Password Safe", I mean the free open-source product at https://pwsafe.org/), not the software of the same name that you find at https://www.passwordsafe.de/

Why migrate? You may have your own reasons. I was satisfied with KeyPass until I wanted to secure the file using my Yubikey on both, PC and Android.

Here is the process that worked for me:

• not strictly necessary: delete "Backup" and "Recycle Bin" groups in KeePass
  
• export your KeePass database as XML
• download MSXSL
• download  KPV2_to_PWS.xslt
  
• run msxsl KeePassV2.xml KPV2_to_PWS.xslt -o PWS.xml (your file names might differ)
  
• in the new XML file, look for empty password, which Password Safe does not like (will be skipped) - replace <password><![CDATA[]]></password> with <password><![CDATA[empty]]></password>
• do the same for empty old password, Password Safe will crash otherwise - replace <oldpassword><![CDATA[]]></oldpassword> with <oldpassword><![CDATA[XXXXXX]]></oldpassword>
• finally, fix empty titles - replace <title><![CDATA[]]> with </title>
  <title><![CDATA[no title]]></title> 

Now you should be ready to import the file into Password Safe.

The log of the import process is pretty helpful, only the old password gave me a headache, because the application kept crashing, until I found the culprit after having done a binary search in my extensive database for two hours! It may be worth fixing 😉

Check the log for duplicates and how they were handled - you may want to rename them after the import.

Finally, make sure to safely delete both XML files, as they contain clear text passwords