Hi Ted, drivers/char/random.c contains the following comment: """ * Our mixing functions were analyzed by Lacharme, Roeck, Strubel, and * Videau in their paper, "The Linux Pseudorandom Number Generator * Revisited" (see: http://eprint.iacr.org/2012/251.pdf). In their * paper, they point out that we are not using a true Twisted GFSR, * since Matsumoto & Kurita used a trinomial feedback polynomial (that * is, with only three taps, instead of the six that we are using). * As a result, the resulting polynomial is neither primitive nor * irreducible, and hence does not have a maximal period over * GF(2**32). They suggest a slight change to the generator * polynomial which improves the resulting TGFSR polynomial to be * irreducible, which we have made here. """ This comment leads me to belief that the current polynomial is primitive (and irreducible). Strangely, this is not the case as seen with the following code that can be used with the mathematical tool called magma. There is a free online version of magma available to recheck it: http://magma.maths.usyd.edu.au/calc/ Note, the polynomials used up till 3.12 were primitive and irreducible. Could you please help me understanding why the current polynomials are better than the old ones? Thanks a lot. F:=GF(2); F; P<x>:=PolynomialRing(F); P; print "Old polynomials:"; P<x>:=x^128 + x^103 + x^76 + x^51 +x^25 + x + 1; P; print "is irreducible: "; IsIrreducible(P); print "is primitive: "; IsPrimitive(P); P<x>:=x^32 + x^26 + x^20 + x^14 + x^7 + x + 1; P; print "is irreducible: "; IsIrreducible(P); print "is primitive: "; IsPrimitive(P); print "New polynomials:"; P<x>:=x^128 + x^104 + x^76 + x^51 +x^25 + x + 1; P; print "is irreducible: "; IsIrreducible(P); print "is primitive: "; IsPrimitive(P); P<x>:=x^32 + x^26 + x^19 + x^14 + x^7 + x + 1; P; print "is irreducible: "; IsIrreducible(P); print "is primitive: "; IsPrimitive(P); And obtained: Finite field of size 2 Univariate Polynomial Ring in x over GF(2) Old polynomials: x^128 + x^103 + x^76 + x^51 + x^25 + x + 1 is irreducible: true is primitive: true x^32 + x^26 + x^20 + x^14 + x^7 + x + 1 is irreducible: true is primitive: true New polynomials: x^128 + x^104 + x^76 + x^51 + x^25 + x + 1 is irreducible: false is primitive: false x^32 + x^26 + x^19 + x^14 + x^7 + x + 1 is irreducible: false is primitive: false Ciao Stephan
