Re: random pool entropy starvation in initrd with parse-kickstart

On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 07:11:10AM -0800, John Reiser wrote:
> On 11/23/2015 03:08 PM, Brian C. Lane wrote:
> >Trying to write down some of the things I know so that I don't forget
> >and so that maybe someone else can figure this out.
> >
> >I've been testing with a PXE setup using rawhide boot.iso's that I've
> >created. I'm injecting the modified code into the initrd by adding
> >,/path/to/extra.img to the initrd PXE entry. This also works for adding
> >the kickstart at /
> >
> >If parse-kickstart is run before the kernel initializes the nonblocking
> >random pool it appears to starve the system and it takes anywhere from
> >several minutes to forever for the pool to be initialized and for the
> >boot to continue.
> >    [[snip]]
> 
> How many execve()?  Each consumes 16 bytes from the pool for AT_RANDOM.
> A shell script that invokes helper utility programs instead of builtin
> string operations is one likely culprit.

Unknown, but mbly way oore than 1 since it is dracut running at this point.

-- 
Brian C. Lane | Anaconda Team | IRC: bcl #anaconda | Port Orchard, WA (PST8PDT)