From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Sat, 18 Aug 2001 23:49:55 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Sat, 18 Aug 2001 23:49:45 -0400 Received: from odyssey.netrox.net ([204.253.4.3]:9886 "EHLO t-rex.netrox.net") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Sat, 18 Aug 2001 23:49:36 -0400 Subject: Re: [PATCH] let Net Devices feed Entropy, updated (1/2) From: Robert Love To: Oliver Xymoron Cc: Rik van Riel , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Evolution/0.12.99+cvs.2001.08.18.07.08 (Preview Release) Date: 18 Aug 2001 23:49:59 -0400 Message-Id: <998193001.653.3.camel@phantasy> Mime-Version: 1.0 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On 18 Aug 2001 22:33:54 -0500, Oliver Xymoron wrote: > The network is still feeding data to the pool, yes? It's merely > underestimating the value of that data. If you think you're getting enough > entropy for your application, use /dev/urandom, don't weaken /dev/random. > > Practically speaking, /dev/urandom is pretty damn strong anyway. Honestly, I don't have a clue what you are talking about. I think you have a misconception about how the entropy gathering works, the differences between /dev/random and /dev/urandom, and what entropy even is. I don't know what your problem is with with allowing net devices to feed the pool. Finally, /dev/random and /dev/urandom have the same "strength" -- the _only_ difference is that /dev/random will block if the _entropy_ count is 0. note, again, this is not the byte count. by design, the size of the pool does not decrement as you read from it. just the estimate of the entropy. -- Robert M. Love rml at ufl.edu rml at tech9.net