Re: Continuing /dev/random problems with 2.4

Jeff Garzik
2002-02-02T08:01:49Z

On Sat, Feb 02, 2002 at 01:33:48AM +0000, David Wagner wrote:
> Hmm. I don't quite follow your reasoning. Does the kernel already
> perform fitness tests on random data from other drivers? I don't
> think so.
>
> The i810 rng seems much less prone to entropy failure than the data
> currently collected from I/O events. Why are fitness tests for it more
> important than for the existing entropy sources that are currently in
> the kernel?
>
> What am I missing?

The "random" data from the RNG might suddenly become non-random. If you
are telling the system you are trusting this source, you better make
sure it truly is random.

RNGs are different than other entropy sources in the kernel because it's
a black box.

Jeff