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> There is also no such thing as "running out of entropy". Hear hear. There is, indeed, no such thing as running out of entropy in a modern PRNG's state. > I
by cryptonector 3y ago
> There is also no such thing as "running out of entropy".
Hear hear. There is, indeed, no such thing as running out of entropy in a modern PRNG's state.
> I don't think this "PRNG" vs. "RNG" distinction is doing us much good.
But it's still nice to seed and periodically reseed a PRNG w/ entropy from an RNG. So there is a distinction between PRNG and RNG to be made, and we should make it. What we really want is to always have an RNG-seeded PRNG, and to always use the PRNG not the RNG.
- cbsmith 3y ago> Hear hear. There is, indeed, no such thing as running out of entropy in a modern PRNG's state. Yes, of course. PRNG's are about producing random data from a seed. But /dev/random & /dev/urandom isn't just a PRNG. > What we really want is to always have an RNG-seeded PRNG, and to always use the PRNG not the RNG. Which is effectively what is going on with /dev/random & /dev/urandom
- tptacek 3y agoAt the point where you're simply equating /dev/random and /dev/urandom, you're no longer really disagreeing with anybody here. The only difference between the two is that /dev/random keeps a metric on how many bits its vended, and blocks waiting for rekeying when that metric gets too high. That's more or less a nonsensical thing to do.
- cbsmith 3y agoI'm definitely not saying what /dev/random does makes sense. ;-)