From owner-freebsd-questions Wed Jan 15 20:22:42 2003 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0C35137B401 for ; Wed, 15 Jan 2003 20:22:41 -0800 (PST) Received: from digger1.defence.gov.au (digger1.defence.gov.au [203.5.217.4]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 682C743F6D for ; Wed, 15 Jan 2003 20:22:39 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from Alex.Wilkinson@dsto.defence.gov.au) Received: from dsto-ms2.dsto.defence.gov.au (dsto-ms2.dsto.defence.gov.au [131.185.2.150]) by digger1.defence.gov.au (8.10.1/8.10.1) with ESMTP id h0G4KUe27923 for ; Thu, 16 Jan 2003 14:50:30 +1030 (CST) Received: from muttley.dsto.defence.gov.au (unverified) by dsto-ms2.dsto.defence.gov.au (Content Technologies SMTPRS 4.2.10) with ESMTP id ; Thu, 16 Jan 2003 14:46:56 +1030 Received: from salex001.dsto.defence.gov.au (salex001.dsto.defence.gov.au [131.185.2.9]) by muttley.dsto.defence.gov.au (8.9.3/8.9.3/8.9.3.LMD.990513) with ESMTP id OAA10688; Thu, 16 Jan 2003 14:43:50 +1030 (CST) Received: from squirm.dsto.defence.gov.au ([131.185.75.211]) by salex001.dsto.defence.gov.au with SMTP (Microsoft Exchange Internet Mail Service Version 5.5.2653.13) id XR5ZQ69T; Thu, 16 Jan 2003 14:44:00 +1030 Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2003 14:43:54 +1030 (CST) From: "Wilkinson,Alex" X-X-Sender: wilkinsa@squirm.dsto.defence.gov.au Reply-To: Alex.Wilkinson@dsto.defence.gov.au To: Kevin Stevens Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: entropy Message-ID: <20030116144214.O52642@squirm.dsto.defence.gov.au> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG From: http://people.freebsd.org/~bmah/relnotes/5.0-RELEASE/relnotes-i386.html " The random(4) device has been rewritten to use the Yarrow algorithm. It harvests entropy from a variety of interrupt sources, including the console devices, Ethernet and point-to-point network interfaces, and mass-storage devices. Entropy from the random(4) device is now periodically saved to files in /var/db/entropy, as well as at shutdown time. The semantics of /dev/random have changed; it never blocks waiting for entropy bits but generates a stream of pseudo-random data and now behaves exactly as /dev/urandom." - aW Entropy is a tendency towards disorder in the universe, exemplified by things LIKE SOME FREAKIN' CLUELESS GIT POSTING A TOTALLY OFF-TOPIC SCIENCE MESSAGE TO A COMPUTER OS LIST!!! Did you actually have to MOVE your browser from in front of the mail program to AVOID searching for this on the web?!? To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message