[Help-gnutls] generate a privite key

[Matthias Urlichs]

Hi,

Nikos Mavrogiannopoulos:
> >       Why does not it generate a private key? I suppose there is
> >       something regarding /dev/random ??
> Hello,
>  /dev/random is needed to seed the random number generator. It seems
> that in your system the /dev/random is broken.

/dev/random is blocking because it oesn't get random bits from anywhere.

For networked computers, the most likely error source is a broken
Ethernet driver. For computers you're sitting in front of, just switch
to a different terminal an bang a few keys.  ;-)

> Check if it is a problem 
> with your kernel version. Alternatively you can compile libgcrypt with 
> a different random generator such as egd or the unix one.
> 
If all else fails, use /dev/urandom, which uses an internal hash
function instead of blocking when it runs out of bits. I'd say that for
most if not all uses, /dev/urandom is perfectly OK.

-- 
Matthias Urlichs   |   {M:U} IT Design @ m-u-it.de   |  smurf at smurf.noris.de
Disclaimer: The quote was selected randomly. Really. | http://smurf.noris.de
 - -
A BELCH IS NOT AN ORAL REPORT
		-- Bart Simpson on chalkboard in episode BABF11
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