xref: /freebsd/crypto/openssl/doc/man3/RAND_add.pod (revision 1da7787f71f19e32f5123904324c67a564a950cd)
1=pod
2
3=head1 NAME
4
5RAND_add, RAND_poll, RAND_seed, RAND_status, RAND_event, RAND_screen,
6RAND_keep_random_devices_open
7- add randomness to the PRNG or get its status
8
9=head1 SYNOPSIS
10
11 #include <openssl/rand.h>
12
13 int RAND_status(void);
14 int RAND_poll();
15
16 void RAND_add(const void *buf, int num, double randomness);
17 void RAND_seed(const void *buf, int num);
18
19 void RAND_keep_random_devices_open(int keep);
20
21Deprecated:
22
23 #if OPENSSL_API_COMPAT < 0x10100000L
24 int RAND_event(UINT iMsg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam);
25 void RAND_screen(void);
26 #endif
27
28=head1 DESCRIPTION
29
30These functions can be used to seed the random generator and to check its
31seeded state.
32In general, manual (re-)seeding of the default OpenSSL random generator
33(L<RAND_OpenSSL(3)>) is not necessary (but allowed), since it does (re-)seed
34itself automatically using trusted system entropy sources.
35This holds unless the default RAND_METHOD has been replaced or OpenSSL was
36built with automatic reseeding disabled, see L<RAND(7)> for more details.
37
38RAND_status() indicates whether or not the random generator has been sufficiently
39seeded. If not, functions such as L<RAND_bytes(3)> will fail.
40
41RAND_poll() uses the system's capabilities to seed the random generator using
42random input obtained from polling various trusted entropy sources.
43The default choice of the entropy source can be modified at build time,
44see L<RAND(7)> for more details.
45
46RAND_add() mixes the B<num> bytes at B<buf> into the internal state
47of the random generator.
48This function will not normally be needed, as mentioned above.
49The B<randomness> argument is an estimate of how much randomness is
50contained in
51B<buf>, in bytes, and should be a number between zero and B<num>.
52Details about sources of randomness and how to estimate their randomness
53can be found in the literature; for example [NIST SP 800-90B].
54The content of B<buf> cannot be recovered from subsequent random generator output.
55Applications that intend to save and restore random state in an external file
56should consider using L<RAND_load_file(3)> instead.
57
58RAND_seed() is equivalent to RAND_add() with B<randomness> set to B<num>.
59
60RAND_keep_random_devices_open() is used to control file descriptor
61usage by the random seed sources. Some seed sources maintain open file
62descriptors by default, which allows such sources to operate in a
63chroot(2) jail without the associated device nodes being available. When
64the B<keep> argument is zero, this call disables the retention of file
65descriptors. Conversely, a non-zero argument enables the retention of
66file descriptors. This function is usually called during initialization
67and it takes effect immediately.
68
69RAND_event() and RAND_screen() are equivalent to RAND_poll() and exist
70for compatibility reasons only. See HISTORY section below.
71
72=head1 RETURN VALUES
73
74RAND_status() returns 1 if the random generator has been seeded
75with enough data, 0 otherwise.
76
77RAND_poll() returns 1 if it generated seed data, 0 otherwise.
78
79RAND_event() returns RAND_status().
80
81The other functions do not return values.
82
83=head1 HISTORY
84
85RAND_event() and RAND_screen() were deprecated in OpenSSL 1.1.0 and should
86not be used.
87
88=head1 SEE ALSO
89
90L<RAND_bytes(3)>,
91L<RAND_egd(3)>,
92L<RAND_load_file(3)>,
93L<RAND(7)>
94
95=head1 COPYRIGHT
96
97Copyright 2000-2018 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
98
99Licensed under the OpenSSL license (the "License").  You may not use
100this file except in compliance with the License.  You can obtain a copy
101in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
102L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.
103
104=cut
105