Re: where to set/override entropy $random_file location?

[Steve Rikli <sr%genyosha.net@localhost>]

On Tue, Oct 14, 2025 at 09:34:28AM -0400, Greg Troxel wrote:
> Steve Rikli <sr%genyosha.net@localhost> writes:
> > ...
> > I was thinking I'd give it another day or so and then put in a PR, at
> > least as a placeholder to capture and summarize this thread. Is that
> > worthwhile?
> 
> Yes, but the more you can have patches the more likely it is someone
> will deal with it.

OK, I finally got some time to submit the PR:
  https://gnats.netbsd.org/cgi-bin/query-pr-single.pl?number=59709

I tried to capture the status quo, problem conditions, along with
suggested fixes/improvements we talked about in this thread.

> build.sh is really not hard.    See sysutils/etcmanage and BUILD-NetBSD
> for an opinionated HOWTO, but really the docs are ok.

Yeah, it seems about like I remember from 2.x days on SPARC. :-)  Fwiw
I'm mostly referencing these to get started, still working on it:
  https://www.netbsd.org/docs/guide/en/chap-updating.html
  src/BUILDING src/UPDATING
  src/build.sh -h

> > Is there a getting started primer in the wiki or the Guide? I searched a
> > bit but not thoroughly; so e.g. I don't really know where to start for
> > something like "generate diffs and make a patch for these config files
> > and man pages, and here's how/where to submit them".
> 
> I am not sure.  But basically
> 
>   - check out netbsd-current
> 
>   - use build.sh (via my script, someone else's, or just create a 1-line
>     /bin/sh), all the way to 'release'
> 
>   - install in a VM
> 
>   - figure out your etc strategy when updating, choose one
>     + full manual
>     + etcmanage
>     + sysupgrade
>     + something else I don't know about
> 
>   - in src/etc mostly find security, defaults.  Figure out what ought to
>     change, trying to be minimal while fixing the mess.  Change it.
>     Drop a COMMIT_MSG in src/ that explains the changes.
> 
>   - run a release build again (with update, if you want)
> 
>   - update the VM using the release sets.  Of course the real changes
>     are in etc and hence my comments about your etc update  strategy,
>     but with a test vm you don't configure much unpacking etc.tgz and
>     diff/manual is not that hard.
> 
>   - cvs diff in src, and send that and the commit message in the PR

Thanks, that's a good overview, should be plenty to work on.  A couple
questions for clarification:

1) what does "(with update, if you want)" mean, in release build context?

2) "COMMIT_MSG in src/" is just a text file? Any format/syntax? Example?

Fwiw there are docs and wiki pages for submitting to pkgsrc, but info
about submitting to src or related areas is a bit scarce, it seems.
Moreso for non-committers like me. :)

> This way you can test your changes, as while this isn't super hard it is
> very likely that anyone would get it not 100% right the first time.

OK, we'll see how it goes.

Cheers,
sr.