From owner-freebsd-arch Mon Feb 26 4:58:57 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Received: by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix, from userid 758) id 78D1F37B503; Mon, 26 Feb 2001 04:58:55 -0800 (PST) Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 04:58:55 -0800 From: Kris Kennaway To: Terry Lambert Cc: arch@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: cvs commit: ports/astro/xglobe/files patch-random Message-ID: <20010226045855.A34109@hub.freebsd.org> References: <20010225193157.A16118@mollari.cthul.hu> <200102261249.FAA16208@usr05.primenet.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i In-Reply-To: <200102261249.FAA16208@usr05.primenet.com>; from tlambert@primenet.com on Mon, Feb 26, 2001 at 12:49:20PM +0000 Sender: owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Mon, Feb 26, 2001 at 12:49:20PM +0000, Terry Lambert wrote: > > > Ignoring that, what makes you think you can come up with a better > > > algorithm than Donald Knuth? > >=20 > > Me? No, but others have done so. Terry, the existing rand() is a bad > > algorithm just about any way you look at it. >=20 > It's useful because it creates repeatable results with the > same seed, which are the same for the same seed on other > platforms. Well, so does Andrey's replacement. > Are you going to replace the 48 bit algorithm with an algorithm > that's cryptographically strong? Unfortunately, this isn't possible due to standardization constraints -- I'm thinking of adding an #ifdef LIBC_AUDIT clause to libc to monitor these so that those of us who care can modify applications which are using the wrong interface to use the correct one. > At least let it be a compile time option, set in make.conf. This has been requested -- I don't object, so those who are using unrandom PRNGs can maintain compatability as a transition mechanism. Kris -- In God we Trust -- all others must submit an X.509 certificate. -- Charles Forsythe To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-arch" in the body of the message