entropy

[Norberto Meijome]

Hanspeter Roth wrote:
> Hello,

hello, grab a beverage and start reading ;)

> 
> what is entropy for?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy

> What are the consequences if one sets rc.conf/entropy_file and
> rc.conf/entropy_dir to "NO"?

$ grep entropy /etc/defaults/rc.conf
entropy_file="/entropy" # Set to NO to disable caching entropy through 
reboots.
                         # /var/db/entropy-file is preferred if / is not 
avail.
entropy_dir="/var/db/entropy" # Set to NO to disable caching entropy via 
cron.
entropy_save_sz="2048"  # Size of the entropy cache files.
entropy_save_num="8"    # Number of entropy cache files to save.


$ apropos entropy
random(4)                - the entropy device
random_harvest(9)        - gather entropy from the kernel for the 
entropy device
RAND_add(3), RAND_seed(3), RAND_status(3), RAND_event(3), RAND_screen(3) 
- add entropy to the PRNG
RAND_egd(3)              - query entropy gathering daemon