From owner-cvs-all  Thu Jan 11 11: 3: 3 2001
Delivered-To: cvs-all@freebsd.org
Received: from earth.backplane.com (placeholder-dcat-1076843399.broadbandoffice.net [64.47.83.135])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP
	id 6D3C937B69E; Thu, 11 Jan 2001 11:02:37 -0800 (PST)
Received: (from dillon@localhost)
	by earth.backplane.com (8.11.1/8.9.3) id f0BJ1jU72510;
	Thu, 11 Jan 2001 11:01:45 -0800 (PST)
	(envelope-from dillon)
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 11:01:45 -0800 (PST)
From: Matt Dillon <dillon@earth.backplane.com>
Message-Id: <200101111901.f0BJ1jU72510@earth.backplane.com>
To: Sheldon Hearn <sheldonh@uunet.co.za>
Cc: obrien@FreeBSD.ORG, Doug Barton <dougb@FreeBSD.ORG>,
	cvs-committers@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/etc crontab rc src/etc/defaults rc.conf src/etc/mtree BSD.root.dist src/libexec Makefile src/libexec/save-entropy Makefile save-entropy.sh 
References:  <8537.979239256@axl.fw.uunet.co.za>
Sender: owner-cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG
Precedence: bulk
X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG

    I'm going to be blunt:  Hell will freeze over before I allow the entropy
    file to be placed in /.  It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to break
    our ability to mount a read-only / just because nobody is willing to do
    some minor shifting of things in /etc/rc.  We have a directory for variable
    data, it's called /var.  We have a directory for persistent state files,
    it's called /var/db.  They must be used, ESPECIALLY for something like
    this.

    This whole entropy thing has been a holy mess, and placing the file
    in / makes it even more of a mess.  We don't need the level
    of randomness-paranoia that is being programmed into the system.

						-Matt

:On Thu, 11 Jan 2001 10:33:17 PST, "David O'Brien" wrote:
:
:> Why use /.entropy as the default rather than /var/<xxx>/entropy ?
:> / is often quite small, and everyone knows /var must (1) be writeable,
:> and (2) have space for things to grow in.
:
:I'm pretty sure that this has all been discussed before, with quite a
:bit of consensus (although some might bitch about the period in the
:directory name '/.entropy'.
:
:The entropy seed files need to be in the root partition because a seeded
:entropy device is needed _very_ early on.  Specifically, it's needed by
:at least mount_mfs(8).  If we wait 'til /var is mounted, we have to wait
:for everything in /etc/fstab to be mounted, so you end up with
:mount_mfs(8) blocking on the entropy device.
:
:Hope that helps.
:
:Ciao,
:Sheldon.
:
:



To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe cvs-all" in the body of the message