[dsfjdssdfsd] getentropy(2)

Watson Ladd <watsonbladd@gmail.com> Tue, 15 July 2014 02:54 UTC

Return-Path: <watsonbladd@gmail.com>
X-Original-To: dsfjdssdfsd@ietfa.amsl.com
Delivered-To: dsfjdssdfsd@ietfa.amsl.com
Received: from localhost (ietfa.amsl.com [127.0.0.1]) by ietfa.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0B0921B2801 for <dsfjdssdfsd@ietfa.amsl.com>; Mon, 14 Jul 2014 19:54:36 -0700 (PDT)
X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at amsl.com
X-Spam-Flag: NO
X-Spam-Score: -2
X-Spam-Level:
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2 tagged_above=-999 required=5 tests=[BAYES_00=-1.9, DKIM_SIGNED=0.1, DKIM_VALID=-0.1, DKIM_VALID_AU=-0.1, FREEMAIL_FROM=0.001, SPF_PASS=-0.001] autolearn=ham
Received: from mail.ietf.org ([4.31.198.44]) by localhost (ietfa.amsl.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id LySjX2Oc18Cn for <dsfjdssdfsd@ietfa.amsl.com>; Mon, 14 Jul 2014 19:54:34 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mail-yh0-x234.google.com (mail-yh0-x234.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:4002:c01::234]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by ietfa.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 936711B27FD for <dsfjdssdfsd@ietf.org>; Mon, 14 Jul 2014 19:54:34 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by mail-yh0-f52.google.com with SMTP id t59so1153787yho.39 for <dsfjdssdfsd@ietf.org>; Mon, 14 Jul 2014 19:54:34 -0700 (PDT)
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:date:message-id:subject:from:to:content-type; bh=eC1Yzb7U5dHpQy3rBZIbBhFBKhgJWsqy8aZeumeNemg=; b=XHYkISSnqW5ad3kz6kuLpdNazLswWDkv9qpfL951U2x0OUg5YGAIq5p2nJadF1hn7n o1YfINtclSBXk+AtGEkIwSdSAlYdy73kGZaGsaMkQKUGZlVLEiyvakCszz7v9HKGoG+2 IJhdyUxC7XadK0cdqLynHjsCbJ5so5ube1N1wdpD4nksYXvVfJnUGWac1QnNKcwPMoss ySa0GMZzsbtZfazTC1gsU8hLncPOOBItjL2Y7Qnm7uME3ClFCYQhF4VFCTyp5xKzUowS IIC+NvuFeimgng77rllZEtRn1cIipnM9/pZV23HFsKA7mAXUwXZMjqgOsvxJe0sag6KZ jcsg==
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Received: by 10.236.37.97 with SMTP id x61mr34602758yha.87.1405392873855; Mon, 14 Jul 2014 19:54:33 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.170.202.8 with HTTP; Mon, 14 Jul 2014 19:54:33 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 19:54:33 -0700
Message-ID: <CACsn0c=nt0bap4QvEwEt1kAP1zQ2p3BS2ykizRUbLPJxOSP4aQ@mail.gmail.com>
From: Watson Ladd <watsonbladd@gmail.com>
To: "dsfjdssdfsd@ietf.org" <dsfjdssdfsd@ietf.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Archived-At: http://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/dsfjdssdfsd/b3wP2WgsOvUfmM0KclU_Xi2Klc4
Subject: [dsfjdssdfsd] getentropy(2)
X-BeenThere: dsfjdssdfsd@ietf.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.15
Precedence: list
List-Id: "The dsfjdssdfsd list provides a venue for discussion of randomness in IETF protocols, for example related to updating RFC 4086." <dsfjdssdfsd.ietf.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/options/dsfjdssdfsd>, <mailto:dsfjdssdfsd-request@ietf.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/dsfjdssdfsd/>
List-Post: <mailto:dsfjdssdfsd@ietf.org>
List-Help: <mailto:dsfjdssdfsd-request@ietf.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/dsfjdssdfsd>, <mailto:dsfjdssdfsd-request@ietf.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 02:54:36 -0000

Dear all,

The absence of getentropy(2) on Linux is a major pain point for
everyone. It turns out that chroot jails are not compatible with
/dev/urandom. which doesn't work on linux anyway (because it will
return junk before initialization). As a TLS developer myself
(slowly!) I feel that pain: random number generation is the single
nastiest problem I have to deal with.

Yes, this is different from the usual IETF standard. But application
and library developers need a portable way to get entropy, and that
has to be the same across all platforms, work every time. Nothing
short of a standard system call will work. Perhaps there is a more
appropriate venue like the Open Group or POSIX or the Cxx committee
(no doubt C++ will happily adopt it: a feature not in C++ is always a
bug).

That's all I need: a platform and hardware independent means to get
some random numbers.

Sincerely,
Watson Ladd