3 * $Id: noise.h,v 1.6 2004/04/08 01:36:15 mdw Exp $
5 * Acquisition of environmental noise (Unix-specific)
7 * (c) 1998 Straylight/Edgeware
10 /*----- Licensing notice --------------------------------------------------*
12 * This file is part of Catacomb.
14 * Catacomb is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
15 * it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public License as
16 * published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
17 * License, or (at your option) any later version.
19 * Catacomb is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
20 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
21 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
22 * GNU Library General Public License for more details.
24 * You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public
25 * License along with Catacomb; if not, write to the Free
26 * Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston,
30 #ifndef CATACOMB_NOISE_H
31 #define CATACOMB_NOISE_H
37 /*----- Header files ------------------------------------------------------*/
39 #include <sys/types.h>
41 #ifndef CATACOMB_RAND_H
45 /*----- Noise source definition -------------------------------------------*/
47 extern const rand_source noise_source;
49 /*----- Magic numbers -----------------------------------------------------*/
51 #define NOISE_NOSETUID ((uid_t)-1)
52 #define NOISE_NOSETGID ((gid_t)-1)
54 /*----- Functions provided ------------------------------------------------*/
56 /* --- @noise_timer@ --- *
58 * Arguments: @rand_pool *r@ = pointer to a randomness pool
60 * Returns: Nonzero if some randomness was contributed.
62 * Use: Contributes the current time to the randomness pool.
63 * A guess at the number of useful bits contributed is made,
64 * based on first and second order bit differences. This isn't
65 * ever-so reliable, but it's better than nothing.
68 extern int noise_timer(rand_pool */*r*/);
70 /* --- @noise_devrandom@ --- *
72 * Arguments: @rand_pool *r@ = pointer to a randomness pool
74 * Returns: Nonzero if some randomness was contributed.
76 * Use: Attempts to obtain some randomness from the system entropy
77 * pool. All bits from the device are assumed to be good.
80 extern int noise_devrandom(rand_pool */*r*/);
82 /* --- @noise_setid@ --- *
84 * Arguments: @uid_t uid@ = uid to set
85 * @gid_t gid@ = gid to set
89 * Use: Sets the user and group ids to be used by @noise_filter@
90 * when running child processes. This is useful to avoid
91 * giving shell commands (even carefully written ones) undue
92 * privileges. This interface is Unix-specific.
95 extern void noise_setid(uid_t /*uid*/, gid_t /*gid*/);
97 /* --- @noise_filter@ --- *
99 * Arguments: @rand_pool *r@ = pointer to a randomness pool
100 * @int good@ = number of good bits per 1024 bits
101 * @const char *c@ = shell command to run
103 * Returns: Nonzero if some randomness was contributed.
105 * Use: Attempts to execute a shell command, and dump it into the
106 * randomness pool. A very rough estimate of the number of
107 * good bits is made, based on the size of the command's output.
108 * This function calls @waitpid@, so be careful. Before execing
109 * the command, the process uid and gid are set to the values
110 * given to @noise_setid@, and an attempt is made to reset the
111 * list of supplementary groups. The environment passed to
112 * the command has been severly lobotimized. If the command
113 * fails to complete within a short time period, it is killed.
114 * Paranoid use of close-on-exec flags for file descriptors is
117 * This interface is Unix-specific.
120 extern int noise_filter(rand_pool */*r*/, int /*good*/, const char */*c*/);
122 /* --- @noise_freewheel@ --- *
124 * Arguments: @rand_pool *r@ = pointer to a randomness pool
126 * Returns: Nonzero if some randomness was contributed.
128 * Use: Runs a free counter for a short while as a desparate attempt
129 * to get randomness from somewhere. This is actually quite
133 int noise_freewheel(rand_pool */*r*/);
135 /* --- @noise_enquire@ --- *
137 * Arguments: @rand_pool *r@ = pointer to a randomness pool
139 * Returns: Nonzero if some randomness was contributed.
141 * Use: Runs some shell commands to enquire about the prevailing
142 * environment. This can gather quite a lot of low-quality
146 extern int noise_enquire(rand_pool */*r*/);
148 /* --- @noise_acquire@ --- *
150 * Arguments: @rand_pool *r@ = pointer to a randomness pool
154 * Use: Acquires some randomness from somewhere.
157 extern void noise_acquire(rand_pool */*r*/);
159 /*----- That's all, folks -------------------------------------------------*/