From owner-freebsd-current Sun Jul 23 3:40:15 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from grimreaper.grondar.za (grimreaper.grondar.za [196.7.18.138]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8669137B70C; Sun, 23 Jul 2000 03:40:04 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from mark@grondar.za) Received: from grimreaper.grondar.za (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by grimreaper.grondar.za (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA00534; Sun, 23 Jul 2000 12:30:41 +0200 (SAST) (envelope-from mark@grimreaper.grondar.za) Message-Id: <200007231030.MAA00534@grimreaper.grondar.za> To: Mark Murray Cc: Kris Kennaway , Poul-Henning Kamp , current@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: randomdev entropy gathering is really weak References: <200007231016.MAA00486@grimreaper.grondar.za> In-Reply-To: <200007231016.MAA00486@grimreaper.grondar.za> ; from Mark Murray "Sun, 23 Jul 2000 12:16:08 +0200." Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 12:30:41 +0200 From: Mark Murray Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > > > Obviously, if you need more randomness than a stock FreeBSD system > > > can provide you with, you add hardware to give you more randomness. > > > > This won't help if it's fed through Yarrow. > > *BZZZZTTT!* Wrong. A good hardware RNG when fed at a high-enough rate > through Yarrow can easily produce a continuous stream of what you need. > (If we take that route, the current implementation may need to be tweaked > a bit to stop reseeding after a period of unuse to avoid hammering the > kernel too much; this needs careful thought). Been thinking about this; the current implemnetation runs continuously (thanks to taskqueue(9)). There is no reason that it couldn't be made (somewhat) use-driven, so that it works harder at harvesting when being used heavily. This may make it slower, but it would hurt the kernel a bit less when not in use. M -- Mark Murray Join the anti-SPAM movement: http://www.cauce.org To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message