xref: /freebsd/share/man/man9/random_harvest.9 (revision cc68614da8232d8baaca0ae0d0dd8f890f06623e)
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26.\" $FreeBSD$
27.\"
28.Dd August 26, 2018
29.Dt RANDOM_HARVEST 9
30.Os
31.Sh NAME
32.Nm random_harvest
33.Nd gather entropy from the kernel for the entropy device
34.Sh SYNOPSIS
35.In sys/types.h
36.In sys/random.h
37.Ft void
38.Fo random_harvest_direct
39.Fa "void *entropy"
40.Fa "u_int size"
41.Fa "enum esource source"
42.Fc
43.Ft void
44.Fo random_harvest_fast
45.Fa "void *entropy"
46.Fa "u_int size"
47.Fa "enum esource source"
48.Fc
49.Ft void
50.Fo random_harvest_queue
51.Fa "void *entropy"
52.Fa "u_int size"
53.Fa "enum esource source"
54.Fc
55.Sh DESCRIPTION
56The
57.Fn random_harvest_*
58functions are used by device drivers
59and other kernel processes to pass data
60that is considered (at least partially) stochastic
61to the entropy device.
62.Pp
63The caller should pass
64a pointer pointing to the
65.Dq random
66data in
67.Fa entropy .
68The argument
69.Fa size
70contains the number of bytes pointed to.
71The
72.Fa source
73is chosen from one of
74the values enumerated in
75.Pa sys/dev/random.h .
76and is used to indicate the source of the entropy.
77.Pp
78The
79.Fo random_harvest_direct
80.Fc
81variant is used
82for early harvesting
83before any multitasking
84is enabled.
85.Pp
86The
87.Fn random_harvest_fast
88variant is used
89by sources that
90should not take
91a performance hit
92from harvesting,
93as they are high-rate
94sources.
95Some entropy is sacrificed,
96but the high rate of supply
97will compensate for this.
98.Pp
99The
100.Fn random_harvest_queue
101variant is used
102for general harvesting
103and is the default
104choice for most entropy sources
105such as interrupts
106or console events.
107.Pp
108Interrupt harvesting has been
109in part simplified
110for the kernel programmer.
111If a device driver registers an interrupt handler
112with
113.Xr BUS_SETUP_INTR 9
114or
115.Xr bus_setup_intr 9 ,
116then it is only necessary to
117include the
118.Dv INTR_ENTROPY
119bit in the
120.Fa flags
121argument to have that interrupt source
122be used for entropy harvesting.
123This should be done wherever practicable.
124.Sh SEE ALSO
125.Xr random 4 ,
126.Xr BUS_SETUP_INTR 9
127.Sh AUTHORS
128The
129.Fx
130.Xr random 4
131entropy device and supporting documentation was written by
132.An Mark R V Murray .
133