Re: Pike 8.0 beta

Peter Bortas wrote:
>o The random(), random_string() and random_seed() might be more random

>  On computers with a hardware pseudo random generator random() can
>  return significantly more random numbers, however, this means that
>  random_seed is a no-op on those machines.

That would mean that it becomes impossible to generate an identical
random stream using the same random_seed between different runs or
between different architectures.

I'd say it would be prudent to switch to a predictable
pseudo-random-sequence as soon as someone has called random_seed() with
a non-zero parameter.  If random_seed() is not being called, then
it does not matter, and faster and more random is better.

>  A side-effect of this is that random_string is now actually
>  significantly faster on at least x86 cpu:s with rdrnd.

>  Note: If you want cryptographically random data please use
>  Crypto.Random.random_string unless you know for sure the random data
>  returned by the RDRND instruction is random enough.
-- 
Stephen.