Looking over my start up scripts I found that the system is using urandom and not random. Should I be using the compile option: --with-egd-socket >From the configure explanation I would not think so. If in fact urandom is being used and the entropy pool is working would there be anything else I can look at to gleam light on the issue? Thanks, -Bob ----rc.S Snippet---- # Carry an entropy pool between reboots to improve randomness. if [ -f /etc/random-seed ]; then echo "Using /etc/random-seed to initialize /dev/urandom." cat /etc/random-seed > /dev/urandom fi # Use the pool size from /proc, or 512 bytes: if [ -r /proc/sys/kernel/random/poolsize ]; then dd if=/dev/urandom of=/etc/random-seed count=1 bs=$(cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/poolsize) 2> /dev/null else dd if=/dev/urandom of=/etc/random-seed count=1 bs=512 2> /dev/null fi chmod 600 /etc/random-seed -----Original Message----- From: Wesley Craig [mailto:wes@xxxxxxxxx] Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 6:17 PM To: Robert T. Covell Cc: info-cyrus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: 2.6 Kernel and POP issues On 27 Nov 2006, at 18:20, Robert T. Covell wrote: > Other articles I have read reference how to set it up. My setup seems > to be similar to what I have seen. From the below article it is > possible that I need to fill up the entropy pool. Are their other > ways > to do this aside from running find /.? Or examples of how to > "tune" it > (if possible). Assuming this is the problem, the "fix" is to use /dev/urandom rather than /dev/random. The difference is that /dev/urandom always returns bytes, whether or not there is sufficient entropy. Another fix would be to run on a machine with a hardware entropy generator. > If this turns out to be the issue does anyone know what would have > changed from 2.4 to 2.6 (which I know is a lot), but in regards to > entropy? Linux 2.4 didn't have a secure /dev/random, at least not be default. 2.6 does by default. :wes ---- Cyrus Home Page: http://cyrusimap.web.cmu.edu/ Cyrus Wiki/FAQ: http://cyrusimap.web.cmu.edu/twiki List Archives/Info: http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus/mailing-list.html
