Re: [RFC] enhanced version of net_random()

From: Andreas Dilger
Date: Fri Aug 20 2004 - 14:11:27 EST


On Aug 20, 2004 13:59 -0400, Jean-Luc Cooke wrote:
> Is there a reason why get_random_bytes() is unsuitable?
>
> Keeping the number of PRNGs in the kernel to a minimum should a goal we can
> all share.

For some uses a decent PRNG is enough, and the overhead of get_random_bytes()
is much too high. We've needed something like this for a long time (something
that gives decenly uniform numbers) and hacks to use useconds/cycles/etc do
not cut it. I for one welcome a simple in-kernel interface to
e.g. get_urandom_bytes() (or net_random() as this is maybe inappropriately
called) that is only pseudo-random but fast and efficient.

Cheers, Andreas
--
Andreas Dilger
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2resize/
http://members.shaw.ca/adilger/ http://members.shaw.ca/golinux/

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