Re: Problem with random.c and PPC

Andreas Dilger
2002-08-15T18:23:46Z

On Aug 15, 2002 15:14 +0000, henrique wrote:
> Hello !!!
>
> I am trying to use a program (ipsec newhostkey) that uses the random device
> provided by the linux-kernel. In a x86 machine the program works fine but
> when I tried to run the program in a PPC machine it doesn't work.
>
> Looking carefully I have discovered that the problem is in the driver
> random.c. When the program tries to read any amount of data it locks and
> never returns. It happens because the variable "random_state->entropy_count"
> is always zero, that is, any random number is generated at all !!!??.
>
> Does anyone know anything about this problem ? Any sort of help is very
> welcomed.

Maybe the PPC keyboard/mouse drivers do not add randomness? You should
also get randomness from disk I/O. If your PPC system is diskless,
mouseless, and keyboardless, there is also a patch for 2.4 which allows
you to get randomness from network card interrupts, which is good enough
for all but the most incredibly paranoid people.

Cheers, Andreas
--
Andreas Dilger