>Number:         17997
>Category:       kern
>Synopsis:       RND_COM still broken on i386?
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       low
>Responsible:    kern-bug-people
>State:          open
>Class:          doc-bug
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Mon Aug 19 16:42:00 PDT 2002
>Closed-Date:
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Christian Biere
>Release:        1.6_BETA4
>Organization:
>Environment:
>Description:
from "/sys/arch/i386/conf/GENERIC":

# rnd works; RND_COM does not on port i386 yet.
pseudo-device   rnd                     # /dev/random and in-kernel generator
#options        RND_COM                 # use "com" randomness as well (BROKEN)

I've tested RND_COM and so far it seems to work:
Source                 Bits Type      Flags
fd0                       0 disk estimate, collect
pms0                      0 tty  estimate, collect
pckbd0                33719 tty  estimate, collect
com1                   7373 tty  estimate, collect
com0                 222519 tty  estimate, collect
sip0                 293277 net  estimate, collect
cd1                  129278 disk estimate, collect
cd0                  215167 disk estimate, collect
wd0                 2305379 disk estimate, collect

The only strange thing I notice is: The timer is extra ordinary high but that might be normal with a RS232. BTW, the device at com0 is a mouse, at com1 is serial console (reserved for
kernel crashes). I've also noticed that moving the mouse doesn't increase the counter as
long as I'm not at a X vt or doing e.g. "less -f /dev/tty0". When moving the mouse then the
bit timer for com0 increases upto several hundred bits per second.

So my question is: Is gathering random from com0 still broken and if yes: in which way? I've
found no documentation about this problem. The kernel option RND_COM was added 1997 with changes in "/sys/dev/ic/com.c".

>How-To-Repeat:

>Fix:

>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted: