Re: [PATCH 4/5] tsc: wire up entropy generation function

[Kent Borg <kentborg@borg.org>]

Matt Mackall wrote:
 > [network adapters are] a great source of potential entropy, a bad
 > source of guaranteed entropy. The current RNG tries to do
 > accounting on the latter. Accounting on the former is extremely
 > suspect.

So we need a patch that:

 - Deletes the IRQF_SAMPLE_RANDOM mention in feature-removal-schedule.txt,

 - Restores instances of IRQF_SAMPLE_RANDOM in drivers, and

 - Changes the credit_entropy_bits() to credit less entropy*.

   * The code seems to only handle integer values of entropy.  Maybe 
when crediting, choose between 1 and 0 credits. 

Then once that kernel makes it into the field, a bunch of entropy 
starved machines will no longer be entropy starved.  A few machines that 
are run by people who worship an entropy estimate will still have to 
install mice and users, explicit RNGs, etc., but entropy will flow.

Make sense?


-kb