Messages in this thread | | | Date | Mon, 26 Jul 2004 21:31:38 +0200 (CEST) | From | Balint Marton <> | Subject | RE: [PATCH] get_random_bytes returns the same on every boot |
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On Mon, 26 Jul 2004, Eble, Dan wrote: > If many systems are booting at the same time, is seeding with the system > time really an appropriate solution? Shouldn't some system-specific > value also contribute to the randomization?
Yes, i agree, it would be nicer, if we could also use some system-specific stuff for the seeding, but i don't know if there is such data during the initialization of the random module. For example, we may use the MAC address of a network device, but unless i am mistaken the initialization of such network devices take place after the random dirver init.
By the way, i made a little test with 40 computers. They were totally equvivalent by hardware, and all of them had a synchronized system clock. I turned them on by Wake On LAN exactly at the same time. All of them used the kernel level ip autoconfig, all of them got their right IP address, and i didn't even find a line of DHCPNAK in the dhcpd logfile.
Conclusion: Although using some system-specific data and the clock would be nicer, the system time alone also does the right thing dependably.
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