Re: random translator

[Marcus Brinkmann]

At Thu, 31 Mar 2005 09:18:33 -0800,
Stou Sandalski <stou.sandalski@gmail.com> wrote:
> Considering that the security of most cryptographic systems rests on
> the quality of the rng, a half-assed solution is definitely not what i
> am after. ("Hey! you are the guy that wrote the rng for hurd, that let
> those hax0rs totally brutalize the world")

The quality of my random translator should be pretty sound, given that
it uses GnuPG's random pool.  However, it may need to be extended a
bit to poll entropy from a kernel device.
 
> So there should be a separate entropy translator? That would actually
> eliminate the issue of how to use hardware entropy generators
> (including that stuff that supposedly comes on some of the Intel
> boards/procs).

The only biggish thing that's missing is a random device in gnumach
which delivers entropy from the hardware (timing IRQ events, etc.
It's not perfect, but the best thing you can get from standard PC
hardware).

Thanks,
Marcus