Re: Re: Still wondering about random numbers...

From: Bruce Momjian <pgman(at)candle(dot)pha(dot)pa(dot)us>
To: "Dr(dot) Evil" <drevil(at)sidereal(dot)kz>
Cc: bruno(at)wolff(dot)to, lockhart(at)fourpalms(dot)org, pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: Re: Re: Still wondering about random numbers...
Date: 2001-08-07 22:44:10
Message-ID: 200108072244.f77MiAw27688@candle.pha.pa.us
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> I'm the one who originally posted this question, and I agree, you have
> a very good point. /dev/random relies on a pool of entropy, which is
> limited. Applications which require a large volume of low-quality
> random numbers (perhaps for rendering in a video game) should
> definitely not use /dev/random, but applications which require a small
> amount of high-quality randomness (generating cryptographic session
> keys perhaps) should use it. PG should have both calls available. If
> anyone has written a C function which calls the crypto-random
> generator, which I could link in, if you would mail it to me, I would
> be most appreciative, because I am using this to generate
> cryptographic challenges, session keys and the like, which really do
> need crypto-quality random numbers.

Isn't /dev/random best used for seeding the random number generator,
rather than for getting random number?

--
Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us
pgman(at)candle(dot)pha(dot)pa(dot)us | (610) 853-3000
+ If your life is a hard drive, | 830 Blythe Avenue
+ Christ can be your backup. | Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

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