Re: Re: Still wondering about random numbers... - Mailing list pgsql-general

From Bruce Momjian
Subject Re: Re: Still wondering about random numbers...
Date
Msg-id 200108072244.f77MiAw27688@candle.pha.pa.us
Whole thread Raw
In response to Re: Still wondering about random numbers...  ("Dr. Evil" <drevil@sidereal.kz>)
Responses Re: Still wondering about random numbers...  ("Dr. Evil" <drevil@sidereal.kz>)
List pgsql-general
> I'm the one who originally posted this question, and I agree, you have
> a very good point.  /dev/random relies on a pool of entropy, which is
> limited.  Applications which require a large volume of low-quality
> random numbers (perhaps for rendering in a video game) should
> definitely not use /dev/random, but applications which require a small
> amount of high-quality randomness (generating cryptographic session
> keys perhaps) should use it.  PG should have both calls available.  If
> anyone has written a C function which calls the crypto-random
> generator, which I could link in, if you would mail it to me, I would
> be most appreciative, because I am using this to generate
> cryptographic challenges, session keys and the like, which really do
> need crypto-quality random numbers.

Isn't /dev/random best used for seeding the random number generator,
rather than for getting random number?

--
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