From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S272528AbTHPA6d (ORCPT ); Fri, 15 Aug 2003 20:58:33 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S272533AbTHPA6d (ORCPT ); Fri, 15 Aug 2003 20:58:33 -0400 Received: from mail.jlokier.co.uk ([81.29.64.88]:12674 "EHLO mail.jlokier.co.uk") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S272528AbTHPA6c (ORCPT ); Fri, 15 Aug 2003 20:58:32 -0400 Date: Sat, 16 Aug 2003 01:58:07 +0100 From: Jamie Lokier To: Andrew Morton Cc: Matt Mackall , tytso@mit.edu, jmorris@intercode.com.au, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, davem@redhat.com Subject: Re: [RFC][PATCH] Make cryptoapi non-optional? Message-ID: <20030816005806.GB21356@mail.jlokier.co.uk> References: <20030809173329.GU31810@waste.org> <20030810174528.GZ31810@waste.org> <20030813032038.GA1244@think> <20030813040614.GP31810@waste.org> <20030815221211.GA4306@think> <20030815235501.GB325@waste.org> <20030815170532.06e14e89.akpm@osdl.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20030815170532.06e14e89.akpm@osdl.org> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.1i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Andrew Morton wrote: > Matt Mackall wrote: > > I'm pretty sure there was never a time when entropy > > accounting wasn't racy let alone wrong, SMP or no (fixed in -mm, thank > > you). > > Well is has been argued that the lack of locking in the random driver is a > "feature", adding a little more unpredictability. Dodgy. Does lack of locking mean users can trick /dev/random into thinking it has more entropy than it does? Or let them detect the time when /dev/random gains entropy, without reading it? > Now I don't know if that makes sense or not, but the locking certainly has > a cost. If it doesn't actually fix anything then that cost becomes a > waste. Per-cpu random pools, perhaps :) -- Jamie