xref: /netbsd/sbin/rndctl/rndctl.8 (revision bf9ec67e)
1.\"	$NetBSD: rndctl.8,v 1.12 2002/02/08 01:30:46 ross Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 1997 Michael Graff
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17.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
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29.Dd October 12, 1997
30.Dt RNDCTL 8
31.Os
32.Sh NAME
33.Nm rndctl
34.Nd in-kernel random number generator management tool
35.Sh SYNOPSIS
36.Nm
37.Fl CEce
38.Op Fl t Ar devtype
39.Op Fl d Ar devname
40.Nm ""
41.Fl ls
42.Op Fl t Ar devtype
43.Op Fl d Ar devname
44.Sh DESCRIPTION
45The
46.Nm
47program displays statistics on the current state of the
48.Xr rnd 4
49pseudo-driver, and allows the administrator to control which sources
50are allowed to contribute to the randomness pool maintained by
51.Xr rnd 4 ,
52as well as whether a given source is counts as strongly random.
53.Pp
54The following options are available:
55.Bl -tag -width 123456
56.It Fl C
57Disable collection of timing information for the given
58device name or device type.
59.It Fl c
60Enable collection of timing information for the given
61device name of device type.
62.It Fl E
63Disable entropy estimation from the collected timing information for
64the given device name or device type.  If collection is still enabled,
65timing information is still collected and mixed into the internal
66entropy pool, but no entropy is assumed to be present.
67.It Fl e
68Enable entropy estimation using the collected timing information
69for the given device name or device type.
70.It Fl s
71Display statistics on the current state of the random collection pool.
72.It Fl l
73List all sources, or, if the
74.Fl t
75or
76.Fl d
77flags are specified, only those specified by the
78.Ar devtype
79or
80.Ar devname
81specified.
82.It Fl t
83All devices of type
84.Ar devtype
85are altered or displayed.
86.It Fl d
87Only the device named
88.Ar devname
89is altered or displayed.
90.El
91.Sh FILES
92.Bl -tag -width /dev/urandomx -compact
93.It Pa /dev/random
94Returns ``good'' values only
95.It Pa /dev/urandom
96Always returns data, degenerates to a pseudo-random generator
97.El
98.Sh SEE ALSO
99.Xr rnd 4 ,
100.Xr rnd 9
101.Sh HISTORY
102The
103.Nm
104program was first made available in
105.Nx 1.3 .
106.Sh AUTHORS
107The
108.Nm
109program was written by Michael Graff \*[Lt]explorer@flame.org\*[Gt].
110.Sh BUGS
111Turning on entropy estimation from unsafe or predictable sources will
112weaken system security, while turning on entropy collection from such
113sources may weaken system security.
114.Pp
115Care should be taken when using this command.
116