GENRANDOM(3)

NAME
genrandom, prng - random number generation

SYNOPSIS
#include <u.h>
#include <libc.h>
#include <mp.h>
#include <libsec.h>

void    genrandom(uchar *buf, int nbytes)

void    prng(uchar *buf, int nbytes)

DESCRIPTION

Most security software requires a source of random or, at the very least, unguessable numbers.

Genrandom fills a buffer with bytes from the X9.17 pseudo-random number generator. The X9.17 generator is seeded by 24 truly random bytes read from /dev/random.

Prng uses the native rand(3) pseudo-random number generator to fill the buffer. Used with srand, this function can produce a reproducible stream of pseudo random numbers useful in testing.

Both functions may be passed to mprand (see mp(3)).

SOURCE
/usr/local/plan9/src/libsec

SEE ALSO
mp(3)