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authorErik Falor <ewfalor@gmail.com>2012-12-09 11:01:01 -0500
committerdsomero <xgizzmo@slackbuilds.org>2012-12-11 16:21:59 -0500
commit5d79d66d1c8d65e9a4e6bc4b7eccfaaa3a63655c (patch)
treeaa38d2e71a5a9125393a6ea186dfce1efc59fe2f /system/haveged/README
parentba72f6af14a885c68540f12cefa957e45323037c (diff)
system/haveged: Added (A simple entropy daemon)
Signed-off-by: dsomero <xgizzmo@slackbuilds.org>
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+haveged (a simple entropy-gathering daemon)
+
+The haveged project is an attempt to provide an easy-to-use, unpredictable
+random number generator based upon an adaptation of the HAVEGE algorithm.
+Haveged was created to remedy low-entropy conditions in the Linux random device
+that can occur under some workloads, especially on headless servers.
+
+The HAVEGE algorithm is based upon the indirect effects of unrelated hardware
+events on the instruction timing of a calculation that is sensitive to processor
+features such as branch predictors and instruction/data access mechanisms.
+Samples from a high-resolution timer are input into the algorithm to
+produce a stream of random data in a collection buffer. The contents of this
+buffer can be fed into the random device or accessed directly through the file
+system. File system access is a useful alternative to those situations where
+use of the random device is either inappropriate or not available.
+
+Add the following snippet to your /etc/rc.d/rc.M to start up haveged at boot:
+
+# Starting HAVEGED entropy daemon
+if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.haveged ]; then
+ /etc/rc.d/rc.haveged start
+fi
+
+You can see how many bits of entropy are available to the system by reading the
+/proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail file, and check the size of your entropy
+pool at /proc/sys/kernel/random/poolsize.