Re: Patch: rework kernel random number subsystem

Simon Burge <[email protected]> Sat, 22 Oct 2011 13:53:39 +1100
Newsgroups gmane.os.netbsd.devel.crypto,gmane.os.netbsd.devel.kernel,gmane.os.netbsd.devel.security
Message-ID <[email protected]>
Thor Lancelot Simon wrote:

> 	   *When these generators are rekeyed, the 'rngtest' test is run
> 	   on their output and the kernel will panic if it fails.*  It
> 	   is not the long-term intent to panic on a rngtest failure,
> 	   but rather to rekey; but this is a good way to detect bugs in
> 	   the implementation (see below).

Can this panic behaviour be sysctl'able or #ifdef'd, and default to not
do that?  It seems like a very large sledgehammer to use.  I suspect
there'll be a large class of users who wouldn't expect a panic simply
because they asked for a random number and it found a bug in your
implementation.

Cheers,
Simon.