Re: regarding the changes to kernel entropy gathering

[Thor Lancelot Simon <tls%panix.com@localhost>]

On Mon, Apr 05, 2021 at 09:30:16AM -0700, Greg A. Woods wrote:
> At Mon, 5 Apr 2021 10:46:19 +0200, Manuel Bouyer <bouyer%antioche.eu.org@localhost> wrote:
> Subject: Re: regarding the changes to kernel entropy gathering
> >
> > If I understood it properly, there's no need for such a knob.
> > echo 0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef > /dev/random
> >
> > will get you back to the state we had in netbsd-9, with (pseudo-)randomness
> > collected from devices.
> 
> Well, no, not quite so much randomness.  Definitely pseudo though!
> 
> My patch on the other hand can at least inject some real randomness into
> the entropy pool, even if it is observable or influenceable by nefarious
> dudes who might be hiding out in my garage.

No.  You are confused.

All those inputs are *already* being injected into the entropy pool.  If you
don't understand that, you need to read the code more.

All echoing crap into /dev/random does is goose the system's entropy estimate
so it will give you the _output_ of the pool when it thought it shouldn't yet.

Thor