From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Nov 11 02:23:41 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A6D0B16A58F for ; Sun, 11 Nov 2007 02:23:41 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from girish1729@gmail.com) Received: from rv-out-0910.google.com (rv-out-0910.google.com [209.85.198.187]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 70C3F13C4B3 for ; Sun, 11 Nov 2007 02:23:41 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from girish1729@gmail.com) Received: by rv-out-0910.google.com with SMTP id l15so766877rvb for ; Sat, 10 Nov 2007 18:23:30 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:received:date:to:subject:message-id:reply-to:mail-followup-to:references:mime-version:content-type:content-disposition:in-reply-to:user-agent:from; bh=l28cdBuhZfWMpJc6JW7GETpB8XPC9foirDXOvYOq03s=; b=gjS/g/VO2gQSUdeKOti8n8kxGCJVMv2zRRIzeLzYuXQ2KZBDXyjEnCyZh+b6WNb8mktu2EH0A89Quo5ypf5cHIaEewoVw564DvFcDhhR95nfiq7osisl+csNGToLaw2qexHQdZ3sQmCx37mjvYhm4eSs9obS/ZSXk/gRROXx0kE= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=received:date:to:subject:message-id:reply-to:mail-followup-to:references:mime-version:content-type:content-disposition:in-reply-to:user-agent:from; b=km44yRnkhzYL5DgEbYS3zO/4mzHPPdY9ZeS3Ldt11pa+2gOo9iB/3Jck5/DzOaIbiVFSNLK3oKE5fRtEqxajvwkNCiHAPDcX9Ws6MKz9CnHdHmfaf8T+vXOpbgMq0P3G9Dkhy+URu88h/ewkj/hnhPcZZ0V8Xpy5EYPnJQ1eYw8= Received: by 10.141.136.19 with SMTP id o19mr1727230rvn.1194746312604; Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:58:32 -0800 (PST) Received: from saraswathy.susmita.org ( [59.92.32.241]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id l21sm6599356rvb.2007.11.10.17.58.28 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:58:30 -0800 (PST) Received: by saraswathy.susmita.org (Postfix, from userid 1002) id 5F073143E7; Sun, 11 Nov 2007 07:28:23 +0530 (IST) Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2007 07:28:23 +0530 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20071111015823.GE6698@saraswathy.susmita.org> Mail-Followup-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <846921.73269.qm@web34404.mail.mud.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <846921.73269.qm@web34404.mail.mud.yahoo.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.12-2006-07-14 From: Girish Venkatachalam Subject: Re: ' Openssl.cnf ' and ' .rand ' file X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: girishvenkatachalam@gmail.com List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2007 02:23:41 -0000 On 11:22:10 Nov 10, White Hat wrote: > openssl 0.9.7e-p1 25 Oct 2004 > > I have not been able to find an answer to this question on Google, so I figured I had better ask it here. > > In the '/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf' file, there is an entry for: > > RANDFILE = $dir/private/.rand # private random number file > > Well, that file does not exist. I cannot find it anywhere on my system and I have not been able to figure out how to create it. > > Also, where could I locate some information on the 'openssl.cnf' file. There does not appear to be a 'man' page for it. I would like some more information on what all of the settings mean and possibly how to set them for my particular needs. Why do you want it? You can use the openssl rand command for doing what you may be wanting to do. $ openssl rand 10000 if you want binary output of length 10000 bytes or you can use the -base64 switch for ASCII output. (You don't need the RANDFILE which is probably a seed or something) Most parts of OpenSSL are not documented properly and the source code is immensely hard to follow. I have worked with the guts of OpenSSL long ago and in spite of working with it for a long time, I have always found it hard to follow what happens where. :) The code is one of the most intricate uses of the wonderful C language. :) Enjoy the fun! :) Thanks. regards, Girish