Re: CONFIG_RANDOM option for 1.99.2

Thomas Koenig (ig25@fg70.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de)
23 May 1996 16:51:41 +0200


In linux.dev.kernel, "Martin.Dalecki" <dalecki@namu23.Num.Math.Uni-Goettingen.de> wrote:

[Manipulating the kernel sources to get a guessable /dev/random]

>DO ANYTHING TO GET GOOD RANDOM NUMBERS, BUT DON'T USE /dev/random.

Uh? The kernel sources are available to you. You check them out,
see wether they are secure or not, and decide.

>You are the student of pure mathematics with some interrest in cryptography
>and Montecarlo methods for numerical solving of integral equations.

[...]

>YOU USE: /dev/random.

Bad move. You should have used /dev/urandom.

>You didn't consider /dev/urandom an
>alternative, since it would be no problem to do mostly the same in user land
>in case the /dev/random falls back very fast into pseudo random number mode.

/dev/random does NOT fall back into pseudo random number mode.
/dev/urandom does. Sorry to have to tell you, but you should
have RTFM first.