From owner-freebsd-current Sun Feb 2 14:49: 1 2003 Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 22B0637B401 for ; Sun, 2 Feb 2003 14:49:00 -0800 (PST) Received: from nagual.pp.ru (pobrecita.freebsd.ru [194.87.13.42]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1944343F93 for ; Sun, 2 Feb 2003 14:48:59 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from ache@pobrecita.freebsd.ru) Received: from pobrecita.freebsd.ru (ache@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by nagual.pp.ru (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id h12Mmvd6069133; Mon, 3 Feb 2003 01:48:57 +0300 (MSK) (envelope-from ache@pobrecita.freebsd.ru) Received: (from ache@localhost) by pobrecita.freebsd.ru (8.12.6/8.12.6/Submit) id h12MmvS4069132; Mon, 3 Feb 2003 01:48:57 +0300 (MSK) (envelope-from ache) Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 01:48:57 +0300 From: "Andrey A. Chernov" To: Mark Murray Cc: current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: rand() is broken Message-ID: <20030202224857.GA69078@nagual.pp.ru> References: <20030202223043.GB68806@nagual.pp.ru> <200302022235.h12MZsaX052670@grimreaper.grondar.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200302022235.h12MZsaX052670@grimreaper.grondar.org> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.1i Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Sun, Feb 02, 2003 at 22:35:54 +0000, Mark Murray wrote: > > I stand (somewhat) corrected. The random() code is _nasty_ complexity-wise. > Its not obvious how it works. > > RC4 is 10-20 lines and clean with no magic numbers. That's why randomness tests + mathematician to interpretate their results are needed to compare what we have now in random(3) with RC4. Easy and understandable code not always mean better results. We can't switch algorithms blindly, i.e. when their comparative quality remains unknown. -- Andrey A. Chernov http://ache.pp.ru/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message