4 ms·
Do you mean /dev/random or /dev/urandom? They are different, AFAIK.
by taway2012 13y ago
Do you mean /dev/random or /dev/urandom? They are different, AFAIK.
- tptacek 13y agoRandom and urandom are interfaces to the same kernel CSPRNG. The difference is that reads from random block until an internal counter that estimates the entropy in the CSPRNG crosses a threshold, and reads from urandom don't do that. In practice, this is a distinction without a meaningful difference. In more modern implementations (like OS X) the CSPRNG works the same way with both interfaces. You should generally prefer urandom. There is a wellspring of urban legands about the security difference between these two interfaces because the Linux man page is misleading.