Re: Continuing /dev/random problems with 2.4

Robert Love
2002-02-01T19:45:01Z

On Fri, 2002-02-01 at 14:38, Ken Brownfield wrote:

> Of course, in my case deleting the /dev/random character node still
> doesn't allow entropy to drain in (after at least a month) so I suspect
> the kernel's entropy generation would be sufficient if it didn't
> artificially stall or drain from within the kernel.

Agreed, I suspect you do indeed have a problem.

What is the output of `/proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail' when
programs are stalled? Is it actually 0?

Can you see if any programs are perhaps draining entropy in the
background? See what has /dev/[u]random open ... note even /dev/urandom
uses entropy, its the same as /dev/random, except it doesn't care when
the entropy estimate is 0.

Robert Love