Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2006 18:49:42 +0100
From: Martin Mares <mj@ucw.cz>
To: Phillip Susi <psusi@cfl.rr.com>
Cc: David Wagner <daw-usenet@taverner.cs.berkeley.edu>,
       linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: Entropy Pool Contents
Message-ID: <mj+md-20061128.174904.27577.atrey@ucw.cz>
References: <ek2nva$vgk$1@sea.gmane.org> <456B3483.4010704@cfl.rr.com> <ekfehh$kbu$1@taverner.cs.berkeley.edu> <456B4CD2.7090208@cfl.rr.com> <ekfifg$n41$1@taverner.cs.berkeley.edu> <mj+md-20061128.131233.3594.atrey@ucw.cz> <456C704F.3050008@cfl.rr.com> <mj+md-20061128.172328.19498.atrey@ucw.cz> <456C7603.7030005@cfl.rr.com>
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Hello!

> You aren't dumping and restoring the entropy pool; you are dumping 
> random data generated by the pool, and using that data to stir the new 
> entropy pool after the next boot.  There is no direct relationship 
> between the entropy of the old and new pools.  The kernel needs to 
> decide how much entropy you added based on how much random data you 
> provide it with to stir the pool.

Yes, but the point is that you cannot tell how much randomness is in the
data you provide.

				Have a nice fortnight
-- 
Martin `MJ' Mares   <mj@ucw.cz>   http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mj/
Faculty of Math and Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Rep., Earth
Noli tangere fila metalica, ne in solum incasa quidem.
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