[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH 2/2] configure: libbsd support for arc4random()

[Clément Bœsch]

On Tue, Dec 08, 2015 at 07:34:51AM -0500, Ganesh Ajjanagadde wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 8, 2015 at 7:27 AM, wm4 <nfxjfg at googlemail.com> wrote:
> > On Sun,  6 Dec 2015 22:56:33 -0500
> > Ganesh Ajjanagadde <gajjanagadde at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> On non-BSD machines, there exists a package libbsd for providing BSD
> >> functionality. This can be used to get support for arc4random.
> >>
> >> Thus, an opt-in --enable-libbsd is added to configure for this
> >> functionality.
> >>
> >> Tested on GNU/Linux.
> >>
> >
> > This doesn't seem worth the trouble at all. Who is even going to use
> > it, and why, and what additional hidden bugs will it cause?
> 
> arc4random is a far superior interface, in that it can never fail. See
> http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/files/entropy.txt for
> details.
> As for hidden bugs, apart from configuration/detection issues, I see none.
> If anything, it is easier to use /dev/urandom incorrectly.
> Ultimately any code change is a tradeoff, with different people
> feeling differently about various things.
> I still feel that it is worth inclusion due to its technical merits.
> 

Note that the behaviour of arc4random differs between implementations.

http://insanecoding.blogspot.gr/2014/05/libressl-porting-update.html

-- 
Clément B.
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 473 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://ffmpeg.org/pipermail/ffmpeg-devel/attachments/20151208/233da4b7/attachment.sig>