From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1753664AbYKZEB6 (ORCPT ); Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:01:58 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1752249AbYKZEBt (ORCPT ); Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:01:49 -0500 Received: from waste.org ([66.93.16.53]:37474 "EHLO waste.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751832AbYKZEBs (ORCPT ); Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:01:48 -0500 Subject: Re: [PATCH] random: add a way to get some random bits into the entropy pools early on From: Matt Mackall To: Arjan van de Ven Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, akpm@linux-foundation.org In-Reply-To: <20081125132600.5112fb24@infradead.org> References: <20081125132600.5112fb24@infradead.org> Content-Type: text/plain Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:41:22 -0600 Message-Id: <1227649282.3196.3.camel@calx> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.22.3.1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Tue, 2008-11-25 at 13:26 -0800, Arjan van de Ven wrote: > >From 5b3b09ac82316c2d4000460d586ebe59303c12c2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 > From: Arjan van de Ven > Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:41:37 -0800 > Subject: [PATCH] random: add a way to get some random bits into the entropy pools early on > > currently the entropy pool gets seeded on the module_init() level, but there > is at least one consumer of random bits (the oops ID that is printed as part > of the oops). > As a result of this, kerneloops.org is seeing a lot of oopses that all share > the same 'random' number; which used to get filed away as "duplicate". > > This patch adds a function to the random driver so that various pieces of > the kernel can add random bits (but not entropy!) to the pool, to avoid > this dupicate ID problem. This appears to be equivalent to making random initialize earlier, except with more code? If we're going down a route like this, I'd like to see the ability to actually mix in data (ie MAC addresses, DMI data, etc.) rather than just timing. -- Mathematics is the supreme nostalgia of our time.