From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Mon, 1 Oct 2001 17:55:14 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Mon, 1 Oct 2001 17:55:04 -0400 Received: from shed.alex.org.uk ([195.224.53.219]:21924 "HELO shed.alex.org.uk") by vger.kernel.org with SMTP id ; Mon, 1 Oct 2001 17:55:01 -0400 Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2001 22:55:26 +0100 From: Alex Bligh - linux-kernel Reply-To: Alex Bligh - linux-kernel To: Andreas Dilger , Florian Weimer Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, "Theodore Ts'o" , Alex Bligh - linux-kernel Subject: Re: /dev/random entropy calculations broken? Message-ID: <45266246.1001976925@[195.224.237.69]> In-Reply-To: <20011001105927.A22795@turbolinux.com> In-Reply-To: <20011001105927.A22795@turbolinux.com> X-Mailer: Mulberry/2.1.0 (Win32) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org --On Monday, 01 October, 2001 10:59 AM -0600 Andreas Dilger wrote: > Has anyone even checked whether the current entropy estimates even work > properly? And while we're at it, many things which add to entropy are observable by non-root users (interupt timings always, mouse movements, keypresses if a non-root user is logged in at the console). And entropy is overestimate on some non-x86 platforms due to lack of fine-grained timer implementations. And without Robert Love's patch the choice of whether to source it from network events is completely arbitrary (NIC dependent) However, unless one is worried about someone having broken SHA-1 OR one is worried about annoying blocking behavour on read(), I'm not convinced the entropy calculation is doing anything useful anyway. People do, however, seem particularly reluctant to accept any change in this area. -- Alex Bligh