On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 02:08:10PM +0100, Bernard Dugas wrote: > Hi, > > When i look at / in a standard installation like : > FreeBSD XXX 7.0-RELEASE FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE #0: Sun Feb 24 19:59:52 UTC > 2008 r...@logan.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC i386 > > There is only 1 file, named entropy : > > -rw------- 1 root wheel 4096 Dec 11 17:36 entropy > > I can't find any reference to that file in FreeBSD doc. > > Any reference to it ? What is it used for ? I have look in RANDOM area, > but no reference... > > Do i have to keep it read/write ? Can i put it in /var instead of / to > be able to keep / read-only ?
It is used to safely seed the random number generator, I believe. A quick search through /etc/rc.d/* and /etc/defaults/rc.conf reveals that you can set $entropy_file in /etc/rc.conf to anything you like, although a comment suggests # Set to NO to disable caching entropy through reboots. # /var/db/entropy-file is preferred if / is not avail. So yes, it seems you could move it off / if you want. Dan -- Daniel Bye _ ASCII ribbon campaign ( ) - against HTML, vCards and X - proprietary attachments in e-mail / \
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