Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 19:31:57 -0800 From: Kris Kennaway <kris@obsecurity.org> To: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com> Cc: Kris Kennaway <kris@obsecurity.org>, arch@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: cvs commit: ports/astro/xglobe/files patch-random Message-ID: <20010225193157.A16118@mollari.cthul.hu> In-Reply-To: <200102260241.TAA07028@usr05.primenet.com>; from tlambert@primenet.com on Mon, Feb 26, 2001 at 02:41:22AM %2B0000 References: <20010225005813.A29124@mollari.cthul.hu> <200102260241.TAA07028@usr05.primenet.com>
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--G4iJoqBmSsgzjUCe Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Mon, Feb 26, 2001 at 02:41:22AM +0000, Terry Lambert wrote: > > That's good to know. I'll look at replacing it with something better > > that has the same semantics, so we solve this problem at the source. >=20 > Please do not. The 48 bit linear congruential algorithm is often > used to creat pseudo one-time pads for ciphering data. Changing Only by idiots, perhaps. rand() is totally wrong for that application. > the algorithm will result in ciphered data becoming inaccesable. >=20 > Repeatability of results in montecarlo based physics simulations is > also an issue. FreeBSD would end up being much less useful for real > numeric work, should rand() be changed. This won't happen because the interface won't change. > Ignoring that, what makes you think you can come up with a better > algorithm than Donald Knuth? Me? No, but others have done so. Terry, the existing rand() is a bad algorithm just about any way you look at it. Kris --G4iJoqBmSsgzjUCe Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.4 (FreeBSD) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQE6mc4tWry0BWjoQKURAvQLAJ9gh9jjUzzupKhYXkc/O3J14JGgzwCfeZWB nhJBux+Kv4+nSvrpYeLiEns= =M9qV -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --G4iJoqBmSsgzjUCe-- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-arch" in the body of the message
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