Replace the old OpenSSL PRNG by direct use of arc4random_buf(), keeping the

existing RAND interfaces unchanged.

All interfaces allowing external feed or seed of the RNG (either from a file
or a local entropy gathering daemon) are kept for ABI compatibility, but are
no longer do anything.

While the OpenSSL PRNG was required 15+ years ago when many systems lacked
proper entropy collection, things have evolved and one can reasonably assume
it is better to use the kernel (system global) entropy pool rather than trying
to build one's own and having to compensate for thread scheduling...

<RANT>
Whoever thought that RAND_screen(), feeding the PRNG with the contents of the
local workstation's display, under Win32, was a smart idea, ought to be banned
from security programming.
</RANT>

ok beck@ deraadt@ tedu@

1 files changed, 7 insertions, 7 deletions

diff --git a/src/lib/libcrypto/doc/RAND_load_file.pod b/src/lib/libcrypto/doc/RAND_load_file.pod
index d8c134e621..3f7e944d86 100644
--- a/src/lib/libcrypto/doc/RAND_load_file.pod
+++ b/src/lib/libcrypto/doc/RAND_load_file.pod
@@ -22,18 +22,18 @@ filename. The seed file is $RANDFILE if that environment variable is
 set, $HOME/.rnd otherwise. If $HOME is not set either, or B<num> is
 too small for the path name, an error occurs.
 
-RAND_load_file() reads a number of bytes from file B<filename> and
-adds them to the PRNG. If B<max_bytes> is non-negative,
-up to to B<max_bytes> are read; starting with OpenSSL 0.9.5,
-if B<max_bytes> is -1, the complete file is read.
+RAND_load_file() used to allow for the state of the random number generator
+to be controlled by external sources.
+
+It is kept for ABI compatibility but is no longer functional, and
+should not used in new programs.
 
 RAND_write_file() writes a number of random bytes (currently 1024) to
-file B<filename> which can be used to initialize the PRNG by calling
-RAND_load_file() in a later session.
+file B<filename>.
 
 =head1 RETURN VALUES
 
-RAND_load_file() returns the number of bytes read.
+RAND_load_file() always returns 0.
 
 RAND_write_file() returns the number of bytes written, and -1 if the
 bytes written were generated without appropriate seed.