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RAND_egd(3)							   RAND_egd(3)

NAME
       RAND_egd - Query entropy gathering daemon

SYNOPSIS
       #include <openssl/rand.h>

       int RAND_egd(
	       const char *path ); int RAND_egd_bytes(
	       const char *path, int bytes );

DESCRIPTION
       The  RAND_egd()	function  queries  the entropy gathering daemon EGD on
       socket path. It queries 255 bytes  and  uses  RAND_add()	 to  seed  the
       OpenSSL	 built-in   PRNG.   The	  RAND_egd(path)   is  a  wrapper  for
       RAND_egd_bytes(path, 255).

       The RAND_egd_bytes() function queries the entropy gathering daemon  EGD
       on  socket  path.  It  queries  bytes  and  uses RAND_add() to seed the
       OpenSSL	built-in  PRNG.	 This  function	 is  more  flexible  than  the
       RAND_egd() function . When only one secret key must be generated, it is
       not necessary to request the full amount 255 bytes from the EGD socket.
       This  can  be  advantageous,  since  the	 amount of entropy that can be
       retrieved from EGD over time is limited.

NOTES
       On systems without /dev/*random devices providing entropy from the ker‐
       nel,  the  EGD entropy gathering daemon can be used to collect entropy.
       It provides a socket interface through which entropy can be gathered in
       chunks  up  to 255 bytes. Several chunks can be queried during one con‐
       nection.

       EGD is available from  http://www.lothar.com/tech/crypto/  (perl	 Make‐
       file.PL;	 make;	make install to install). It is run as egd path, where
       path is an absolute path designating  a	socket.	 When  the  RAND_egd()
       function is called with that path as an argument, it tries to read ran‐
       dom bytes that EGD collected.  The read is  performed  in  non-blocking
       mode.

       Alternatively,  the  EGD-interface compatible daemon PRNGD can be used.
       It    is	    available	  from	   http://www.aet.tu-cottbus.de/perso‐
       nen/jaenicke/postfix_tls/prngd.html.   PRNGD  does  employ  an internal
       PRNG itself and can therefore never run out of entropy.

RETURN VALUE
       The RAND_egd() and RAND_egd_bytes()  functions  return  the  number  of
       bytes  read from the daemon on success, and -1 if the connection failed
       or the daemon did not return enough data to fully seed the PRNG.

HISTORY
       The RAND_egd() function is available since OpenSSL 0.9.5.

       The RAND_egd_bytes() function is available since OpenSSL 0.9.6.

SEE ALSO
       Functions: rand_ssl(3), RAND_add(3), RAND_cleanup(3)

								   RAND_egd(3)
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