From 9967bc5c378ea2e72cc6c034e22bca6588ca2f29 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Paul Kehrer Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 21:39:13 -0600 Subject: add a little info about the various system randoms. maybe useful? --- docs/hazmat/backends/openssl.rst | 12 ++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+) (limited to 'docs/hazmat') diff --git a/docs/hazmat/backends/openssl.rst b/docs/hazmat/backends/openssl.rst index 17d01ca8..16519d18 100644 --- a/docs/hazmat/backends/openssl.rst +++ b/docs/hazmat/backends/openssl.rst @@ -46,6 +46,18 @@ added to the engine list but **not activated** if you only import the binding. If you wish to deactivate it call ``unregister_osrandom_engine()`` on the backend object. +OS Random Sources +---------------------------- + +On OS X and FreeBSD ``/dev/urandom`` is an alias for ``/dev/random`` and +utilizes the `Yarrow`_ algorithm. + +On Windows ``CryptGenRandom`` is backed by `Fortuna`_. + +Linux uses its own PRNG design. ``/dev/urandom`` is a non-blocking source seeded +from the ``/dev/random`` pool. + + .. _`OpenSSL`: https://www.openssl.org/ .. _`initializing the RNG`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSSL#Vulnerability_in_the_Debian_implementation .. _`Yarrow`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarrow_algorithm -- cgit v1.2.3