openssl/doc/man3/RAND_bytes.pod
Pauli 7d615e2178 rand_drbg: remove RAND_DRBG.
The RAND_DRBG API did not fit well into the new provider concept as
implemented by EVP_RAND and EVP_RAND_CTX. The main reason is that the
RAND_DRBG API is a mixture of 'front end' and 'back end' API calls
and some of its API calls are rather low-level. This holds in particular
for the callback mechanism (RAND_DRBG_set_callbacks()) and the RAND_DRBG
type changing mechanism (RAND_DRBG_set()).

Adding a compatibility layer to continue supporting the RAND_DRBG API as
a legacy API for a regular deprecation period turned out to come at the
price of complicating the new provider API unnecessarily. Since the
RAND_DRBG API exists only since version 1.1.1, it was decided by the OMC
to drop it entirely.

Other related changes:

Use RNG instead of DRBG in EVP_RAND documentation.  The documentation was
using DRBG in places where it should have been RNG or CSRNG.

Move the RAND_DRBG(7) documentation to EVP_RAND(7).

Reviewed-by: Matthias St. Pierre <Matthias.St.Pierre@ncp-e.com>
(Merged from https://github.com/openssl/openssl/pull/12509)
2020-08-07 14:16:47 +10:00

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=pod
=head1 NAME
RAND_bytes, RAND_priv_bytes, RAND_bytes_ex, RAND_priv_bytes_ex,
RAND_pseudo_bytes - generate random data
=head1 SYNOPSIS
#include <openssl/rand.h>
int RAND_bytes(unsigned char *buf, int num);
int RAND_priv_bytes(unsigned char *buf, int num);
int RAND_bytes_ex(OPENSSL_CTX *ctx, unsigned char *buf, int num);
int RAND_priv_bytes_ex(OPENSSL_CTX *ctx, unsigned char *buf, int num);
Deprecated since OpenSSL 1.1.0, can be hidden entirely by defining
B<OPENSSL_API_COMPAT> with a suitable version value, see
L<openssl_user_macros(7)>:
int RAND_pseudo_bytes(unsigned char *buf, int num);
=head1 DESCRIPTION
RAND_bytes() generates B<num> random bytes using a cryptographically
secure pseudo random generator (CSPRNG) and stores them in B<buf>.
RAND_priv_bytes() has the same semantics as RAND_bytes(). It is intended to
be used for generating values that should remain private. If using the
default RAND_METHOD, this function uses a separate "private" PRNG
instance so that a compromise of the "public" PRNG instance will not
affect the secrecy of these private values, as described in L<RAND(7)>
and L<EVP_RAND(7)>.
RAND_bytes_ex() and RAND_priv_bytes_ex() are the same as RAND_bytes() and
RAND_priv_bytes() except that they both take an additional I<ctx> parameter.
The DRBG used for the operation is the public or private DRBG associated with
the specified I<ctx>. The parameter can be NULL, in which case
the default library context is used (see L<OPENSSL_CTX(3)>.
If the default RAND_METHOD has been changed then for compatibility reasons the
RAND_METHOD will be used in preference and the DRBG of the library context
ignored.
=head1 NOTES
By default, the OpenSSL CSPRNG supports a security level of 256 bits, provided it
was able to seed itself from a trusted entropy source.
On all major platforms supported by OpenSSL (including the Unix-like platforms
and Windows), OpenSSL is configured to automatically seed the CSPRNG on first use
using the operating systems's random generator.
If the entropy source fails or is not available, the CSPRNG will enter an
error state and refuse to generate random bytes. For that reason, it is important
to always check the error return value of RAND_bytes() and RAND_priv_bytes() and
not take randomness for granted.
On other platforms, there might not be a trusted entropy source available
or OpenSSL might have been explicitly configured to use different entropy sources.
If you are in doubt about the quality of the entropy source, don't hesitate to ask
your operating system vendor or post a question on GitHub or the openssl-users
mailing list.
=head1 RETURN VALUES
RAND_bytes() and RAND_priv_bytes()
return 1 on success, -1 if not supported by the current
RAND method, or 0 on other failure. The error code can be
obtained by L<ERR_get_error(3)>.
=head1 SEE ALSO
L<RAND_add(3)>,
L<RAND_bytes(3)>,
L<RAND_priv_bytes(3)>,
L<ERR_get_error(3)>,
L<RAND(7)>,
L<EVP_RAND(7)>
=head1 HISTORY
=over 2
=item *
RAND_pseudo_bytes() was deprecated in OpenSSL 1.1.0; use RAND_bytes() instead.
=item *
The RAND_priv_bytes() function was added in OpenSSL 1.1.1.
=item *
The RAND_bytes_ex() and RAND_priv_bytes_ex() functions were added in OpenSSL 3.0
=back
=head1 COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2000-2020 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.
=cut