Persisting /dev/random state across reboots

[Thierry Moreau]

Richard Salz wrote:
> At shutdown, a process copies /dev/random to /var/random-seed which is 
> used on reboots.
> Is this a good, bad, or "shrug, whatever" idea?
> I suppose the idea is that "all startup procs look the same" ?
> 
> tnx.

First look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urandom

There is a tremendous value in the Linux kernel technology, including 
extensive peer review from an IT security perspective.

If you think there are security requirements not met (e.g. assurance of 
entropy characteristics, assurance of implementation configuration 
sanity), then you should state your design goals. Only thereafter we get 
an understanding of good, bad, or more relevant: improved.

Regards,

-- 
- Thierry Moreau

CONNOTECH Experts-conseils inc.
9130 Place de Montgolfier
Montreal, QC, Canada H2M 2A1

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