Subject: Re: [RFC][PATCH] Pseudo-random number generator
From: Jan Glauber <jan.glauber@de.ibm.com>
To: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>
Cc: linux-crypto <linux-crypto@vger.kernel.org>, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
In-Reply-To: <200612071606.33951.arnd@arndb.de>
References: <1164979155.5882.23.camel@bender>
	 <200612071606.33951.arnd@arndb.de>
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Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 16:19:56 +0100
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On Thu, 2006-12-07 at 16:06 +0100, Arnd Bergmann wrote:
> On Friday 01 December 2006 14:19, Jan Glauber wrote:
> > I've chosen the char driver since it allows the user to decide which pseudo-random
> > numbers he wants to use. That means there is a new interface for the s390
> > PRNG, called /dev/prandom.
> > 
> > I would like to know if there are any objections, especially with the chosen device
> > name.
> 
> This may be a stupid question, but what is it _good_ for? My understanding is
> that the crypt_s390_kmc() opcodes work in user mode as well as kernel mode, so
> you should not need a character device at all, but maybe just a small tool
> that spits prandom data to stdout.

Hm, why is /dev/urandom implemented in the kernel?

It could be done completely in user-space (like libica already does)
but I think having a device node where you can read from is the simplest
implementation. Also, if we can solve the security flaw we could use it
as replacement for /dev/urandom.

Jan

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