Random(3)                                      User Contributed Perl Documentation                                     Random(3)



NAME
       Crypt::OpenSSL::RSA - RSA encoding and decoding, using the openSSL libraries

       Crypt::OpenSSL::Random - Routines for accessing the OpenSSL pseudo-random number generator

SYNOPSIS
         use Crypt::OpenSSL::Random;

         Crypt::OpenSSL::Random::random_seed($good_random_data);
         Crypt::OpenSSL::Random::random_egd("/tmp/entropy");
         Crypt::OpenSSL::Random::random_status() or
           die "Unable to sufficiently seed the random number generator".

         my $ten_good_random_bytes = Crypt::OpenSSL::Random::random_bytes(10);
         my $ten_ok_random_bytes = Crypt::OpenSSL::Random::random_pseudo_bytes(10);

DESCRIPTION
       Crypt::OpenSSL::Random provides the ability to seed and query the OpenSSL library's pseudo-random number generator

   EXPORT
       None by default.

Static Methods
       random_bytes
           This function, returns a specified number of cryptographically strong pseudo-random bytes from the PRNG.  If the PRNG
           has not been seeded with enough randomness to ensure an unpredictable byte sequence, then a false value is returned.

       random_pseudo_bytes
           This function, is similar to c<random_bytes>, but the resulting sequence of bytes are not necessarily unpredictable.
           They can be used for non-cryptographic purposes and for certain purposes in cryptographic protocols, but usually not
           for key generation etc.

       random_seed
           This function seeds the PRNG with a supplied string of bytes.  It returns true if the PRNG has sufficient seeding.
           Note: calling this function with non-random bytes is of limited value at best!

       random_egd
           This function seeds the PRNG with data from the specified entropy gathering daemon.  Returns the number of bytes read
           from the daemon on succes, or -1 if not enough bytes were read, or if the connection to the daemon failed.

       random_status
           This function returns true if the PRNG has sufficient seeding.

BUGS
       Because of the internal workings of OpenSSL's random library, the pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) accessed by
       Crypt::OpenSSL::Random will be different than the one accessed by any other perl module.  Hence, to use a module such as
       Crypt::OpenSSL::Random, you will need to seed the PRNG used there from one used here.  This class is still advantageous,
       however, as it centralizes other methods, such as random_egd, in one place.

AUTHOR
       Ian Robertson, irobertsATcpan.com

SEE ALSO
       perl(1), rand(3), RAND_add(3), RAND_egd(3), RAND_bytes(3).

POD ERRORS
       Hey! The above document had some coding errors, which are explained below:

       Around line 62:
           '=item' outside of any '=over'

       Around line 93:
           You forgot a '=back' before '=head1'



perl v5.12.0                                               2007-05-20                                                  Random(3)