> 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?
--
Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us
pgman@candle.pha.pa.us | (610) 853-3000
+ If your life is a hard drive, | 830 Blythe Avenue
+ Christ can be your backup. | Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026