On Thursday 07 December 2006 16:19, Jan Glauber wrote: > Hm, why is /dev/urandom implemented in the kernel? > > It could be done completely in user-space (like libica already does) > but I think having a device node where you can read from is the simplest > implementation. Also, if we can solve the security flaw we could use it > as replacement for /dev/urandom. urandom is more useful, because can't be implemented in user space at all. /dev/urandom will use the real randomness from the kernel as a seed without depleting the entropy pool. How does your /dev/prandom device compare to /dev/urandom performance-wise? If it can be made to use the same input data and it turns out to be significantly faster, I can see some use for it. Arnd <>< - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-crypto" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html