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Diffstat (limited to 'security/nss/lib/freebl/mpi/doc/prng.pod')
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diff --git a/security/nss/lib/freebl/mpi/doc/prng.pod b/security/nss/lib/freebl/mpi/doc/prng.pod new file mode 100644 index 000000000..1ae75da82 --- /dev/null +++ b/security/nss/lib/freebl/mpi/doc/prng.pod @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +=head1 NAME + + prng - pseudo-random number generator + +=head1 SYNOPSIS + + prng [count] + +=head1 DESCRIPTION + +B<Prng> generates 32-bit pseudo-random integers using the +Blum-Blum-Shub (BBS) quadratic residue generator. It is seeded using +the standard C library's rand() function, which itself seeded from the +system clock and the process ID number. Thus, the values generated +are not particularly useful for cryptographic applications, but they +are in general much better than the typical output of the usual +multiplicative congruency generator used by most runtime libraries. + +You may optionally specify how many random values should be generated +by giving a I<count> argument on the command line. If you do not +specify a count, only one random value will be generated. The results +are output to the standard output in decimal notation, one value per +line. + +=head1 RESTRICTIONS + +As stated above, B<prng> uses the C library's rand() function to seed +the generator, so it is not terribly suitable for cryptographic +applications. Also note that each time you run the program, a new +seed is generated, so it is better to run it once with a I<count> +parameter than it is to run it multiple times to generate several +values. + +=head1 AUTHOR + + Michael J. Fromberger <sting@linguist.dartmouth.edu> + Copyright (C) 1998 Michael J. Fromberger, All Rights Reserved + Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH USA + + $Date$ + |