Re: rc.shutdown hook is not a solution (was Re: randomdev entropy gathering is really weak)

[Mark Murray]

> The reason is not security only, the reason is buggy RNG.  Imagine diskless 
> keyboard-less and mouse-less slide-show machine with no rc.shutdown hooks 
> since it comes with power up and goes down with power down.  This machine 
> will always start with same picture because RNG have not enough enthropy.  In
> worst case we should relay only on processor registers always present, i.e.  
> timers and so on.  rc.shutdown hook not solve problem completely.

Actually, it is only a faulty reseed mechanism.

For the purposes of your argument above, the time-of-day would be
an acceptable reseed to random(9).

For cryptographic randomness, more noise is needed.

M
--
Mark Murray
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