Subject: Re: KERN_URND sysctl
To: Jason R Thorpe <thorpej@wasabisystems.com>
From: Bill Sommerfeld <sommerfeld@netbsd.org>
List: tech-kern
Date: 07/02/2002 14:12:57
>  > Log Message:
>  > provide KERN_URND, which extracts sizeof(int) random number from the kernel
>  > (similar to /dev/urandom, for use within chroot jail).
> 
> Hm.  What is wrong with simply providing a /dev/urandom in the jail?

The root cause here is that the arc4random() API, as implemented in
NetBSD, does not provide a way to report failure to the caller.
Rather than fixing the API, hacks were implemented to reduce the
chance of catastrophic undetected failure.  This is not the way to
design robust systems.

					- Bill