1.1 --- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
1.2 +++ b/security/nss/lib/freebl/mpi/doc/prng.pod Wed Dec 31 06:09:35 2014 +0100
1.3 @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
1.4 +=head1 NAME
1.5 +
1.6 + prng - pseudo-random number generator
1.7 +
1.8 +=head1 SYNOPSIS
1.9 +
1.10 + prng [count]
1.11 +
1.12 +=head1 DESCRIPTION
1.13 +
1.14 +B<Prng> generates 32-bit pseudo-random integers using the
1.15 +Blum-Blum-Shub (BBS) quadratic residue generator. It is seeded using
1.16 +the standard C library's rand() function, which itself seeded from the
1.17 +system clock and the process ID number. Thus, the values generated
1.18 +are not particularly useful for cryptographic applications, but they
1.19 +are in general much better than the typical output of the usual
1.20 +multiplicative congruency generator used by most runtime libraries.
1.21 +
1.22 +You may optionally specify how many random values should be generated
1.23 +by giving a I<count> argument on the command line. If you do not
1.24 +specify a count, only one random value will be generated. The results
1.25 +are output to the standard output in decimal notation, one value per
1.26 +line.
1.27 +
1.28 +=head1 RESTRICTIONS
1.29 +
1.30 +As stated above, B<prng> uses the C library's rand() function to seed
1.31 +the generator, so it is not terribly suitable for cryptographic
1.32 +applications. Also note that each time you run the program, a new
1.33 +seed is generated, so it is better to run it once with a I<count>
1.34 +parameter than it is to run it multiple times to generate several
1.35 +values.
1.36 +
1.37 +=head1 AUTHOR
1.38 +
1.39 + Michael J. Fromberger <sting@linguist.dartmouth.edu>
1.40 + Copyright (C) 1998 Michael J. Fromberger, All Rights Reserved
1.41 + Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH USA
