Author

Topic: Random number generators used by clients? (Read 617 times)

legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 1036
September 11, 2013, 12:44:54 PM
#2
So, again, my question is, can someone who knows about the client code confirm that it's ultimately using /dev/urandom?
The ultimate source of random data for keys is OpenSSL's rand_lib.c. This is where the build options will cause the answer to diverge; when you build Bitcoin, the answer is ultimately dependent upon build config options such as OPENSSL_FIPS (use the FIPS140 engine) and platform.

One would need to investigate the gitian-reproducible Bitcoin builds to give an answer about the official binaries; I've read enough OpenSSL code for this answer that I'm not gonna do this...
sr. member
Activity: 362
Merit: 252
September 11, 2013, 07:06:19 AM
#1
Is there an overview which random number generator (hardware, software, algorithm) is used by the different bitcoin clients to generate r-values and private keys? Hope this has not been discussed before, google did not show any hits....
Jump to: