Re: random seed generation without user interaction?

[Don Davis]

> what methods do folks currently use (on NT and unix)
> to generate a random seed ...

mr. hodges,

solaris has a good trng product called
cryptorand.  i've reviewed its internals
closely.  cryptorand works by hashing
kernel memory. the pointers in kernel
memory get shuffled constantly by external
I/O, so /dev/kmem does contain good
randomness.  cryptorand is very careful
and conservative about not delivering
too many bits.

linux' /dev/random hashes various load
averages with various sources of i/o
timing.  i believe it is sound.

nt uses capi's generate_random_seed() call,
which mostly relies on static configuration
data, like the host's name & ip address.
if i remember correctly, it may hash the
load average in, too.

                        - don davis, boston




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