On Thu, Jul 17, 2014 at 11:22:17AM -0700, Andy Lutomirski wrote: > Currently, init_std_data contains its own logic for using arch > random sources. This logic is a bit strange: it reads one long of > arch random data per byte of internal state. This isn't true. Check out the init_std_data() a bit more closely. unsigned long rv; ... for (i = r->poolinfo->poolbytes; i > 0; i -= sizeof(rv)) { ... In particular, note the "i -= sizeof(rv)". We are reading one bit per bit of internal state beeing seeded. > Assuming the arch sources are perfect, this is the right thing to > do. They're not, though, so the followup patch attempts to > implement the correct logic on x86. ... and that's not a problem because we aren't giving any entropy credit --- and this is deliberate, because we don't want to trust un-auditable hardware. We are deliberately trying to be conservative here. So I don't think either this patch or the next one is needed. It adds far more complexity than is warranted. Regards, - Ted -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe kvm" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html