From owner-freebsd-hackers Mon Oct 7 12:44:06 1996 Return-Path: owner-hackers Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id MAA21549 for hackers-outgoing; Mon, 7 Oct 1996 12:44:06 -0700 (PDT) Received: from pcpsj.pfcs.com (harlan.fred.net [205.252.219.31]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id MAA21520; Mon, 7 Oct 1996 12:44:01 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mumps.pfcs.com (mumps.pfcs.com [192.52.69.11]) by pcpsj.pfcs.com (8.6.12/8.6.9) with SMTP id PAA12262; Mon, 7 Oct 1996 15:43:52 -0400 Received: from localhost by mumps.pfcs.com with SMTP id AA08063 (5.67b/IDA-1.5); Mon, 7 Oct 1996 15:43:51 -0400 To: hackers@freebsd.org, current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: random() fix explanation to avoid misunderstanding In-Reply-To: Terry's message of "Mon, 07 Oct 1996 11:27:36 PDT." <199610071827.LAA14499@phaeton.artisoft.com> Date: Mon, 07 Oct 1996 15:43:50 -0300 Message-Id: <8061.844717430@mumps.pfcs.com> From: Harlan Stenn Sender: owner-hackers@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Terry is right when he talk about needing to keep the PSEUDO-random code "golden". Jordan is right when he says that if you want repeatable results, it's best to carry your pseudo-random number code with you. If folks are going to change random.c anyway, I'd ask that either the old code be moved to a "compat" library, and/or find a way to have a per-process switch that provides a way to choose which version of the generator you're getting. H