NAME

     random, urandom - kernel random number source devices

DESCRIPTION

     The character special  files  /dev/random  and  /dev/urandom
     (present  since  Linux  1.3.30)  provide an interface to the
     kernel's random number generator. File /dev/random has major
     device   number   1   and   minor  device  number  8.   File
     /dev/urandom has major device  number  1  and  minor  device
     number 9.

     The random number generator gathers environmental noise from
     device  drivers  and other sources into an entropy pool. The
     generator also keeps an estimate of the number of bit of the
     noise  in  the  entropy pool.  From this entropy pool random
     numbers are created.

     When read, the /dev/random device will  only  return  random
     bytes  within  the  estimated number of bits of noise in the
     entropy pool.  /dev/random should be suitable for uses  that
     need  very  high  quality randomness such as one-time pad or
     key generation. When the entropy pool  is  empty,  reads  to
     /dev/random  will block until additional environmental noise
     is gathered.

     When read, /dev/urandom device will return as many bytes  as
     are  requested.   As  a  result,  if there is not sufficient
     entropy  in  the  entropy  pool,  the  returned  values  are
     theoretically  vulnerable  to  a cryptographic attack on the
     algorithms used by the driver.  Knowledge of how to do  this
     is  not  available in the current non-classified literature,
     but it is theoretically possible that  such  an  attack  may
     exist.   If  this  is  a  concern  in  your application, use
     /dev/random instead.

CONFIGURING

     If your system does not have  /dev/random  and  /dev/urandom
     created already, they can be created with the following com-
     mands:

             mknod -m 644 /dev/random c 1 8
             mknod -m 644 /dev/urandom c 1 9
             chown root.root /dev/random /dev/urandom

     When a Linux system starts up without much operator interac-
     tion, the entropy pool may be in a fairly predictable state.
     This reduces the actual amount of noise in the entropy  pool
     below  the estimate.  In order to counteract this effect, it
     helps to carry entropy pool  information  across  shut-downs
     and  start-ups.  To  do  this, add the following lines to an
     appropriate script which is  run  during  the  Linux  system
     start-up sequence:
          echo "Initializing kernel random number generator..."
          # Initialize kernel random number generator with random seed
          # from last shut-down (or start-up) to this start-up.  Load and
          # then save 512 bytes, which is the size of the entropy pool.
          if [ -f /var/random-seed ]; then
               cat /var/random-seed >/dev/urandom
          fi
          dd if=/dev/urandom of=/var/random-seed count=1

     Also, add the following lines in an appropriate script which
     is run during the Linux system shutdown:

          # Carry a random seed from shut-down to start-up for the random
          # number generator.  Save 512 bytes, which is the size of the
          # random number generator's entropy pool.
          echo "Saving random seed..."
          dd if=/dev/urandom of=/var/random-seed count=1

FILES

     /dev/random
     /dev/urandom

AUTHOR

     The kernel's random number generator was written by Theodore
     Ts'o (tytso@athena.mit.edu).

SEE ALSO

     mknod (1)
     RFC 1750, "Randomness Recommendations for Security"