Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 15:26:28 -0500 (EST) From: Garrett Wollman <wollman@khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu> To: Cy.Schubert@uumail.gov.bc.ca Cc: arch@freebsd.org Subject: Re: rand(3) (was Re: cvs commit: ports/astro/xglobe/files patch-random) Message-ID: <200102272026.PAA78242@khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu> In-Reply-To: <200102271952.f1RJqSs35224@cwsys.cwsent.com> References: <mit.lcs.mail.freebsd-arch/p05010404b6c19bb3a3c1@[128.113.24.47]>
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In article <200102271952.f1RJqSs35224@cwsys.cwsent.com> you write:
>2. A more secure rand().
It is not rand's place to be secure. rand's only goal in life is to
have reasonable statistical properties. Austin Group draft 5 makes
the following requirement (inherited from X/Open):
The rand( ) function shall compute a sequence of pseudo-random
integers in the range 0 to {RAND_MAX} with a period of at
least 2<sup>32</sup>.
There are other random-number generators which are intended to be
secure. Applications which use random numbers in a security-sensitive
context (e.g., key-generation or nonces) should not use this
interface; there should probably be more explicit documentation to
this effect. (Believe it or not, many real-world applications require
only statistical randomness.)
-GAWollman
--
Garrett A. Wollman | O Siem / We are all family / O Siem / We're all the same
wollman@lcs.mit.edu | O Siem / The fires of freedom
Opinions not those of| Dance in the burning flame
MIT, LCS, CRS, or NSA| - Susan Aglukark and Chad Irschick
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