openssl/doc/crypto/rand.pod
Rich Salz a528d4f0a9 Remove SSLeay history, etc., from docs
If something was "present in all versions" of SSLeay, or if it was
added to a version of SSLeay (and therefore predates OpenSSL),
remove mention of it.  Documentation history now starts with OpenSSL.

Remove mention of all history before OpenSSL 0.9.8, inclusive.

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Reviewed-by: Tim Hudson <tjh@openssl.org>
2015-10-28 17:23:51 -04:00

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=pod
=head1 NAME
rand - pseudo-random number generator
=head1 SYNOPSIS
#include <openssl/rand.h>
int RAND_set_rand_engine(ENGINE *engine);
int RAND_bytes(unsigned char *buf, int num);
int RAND_pseudo_bytes(unsigned char *buf, int num);
void RAND_seed(const void *buf, int num);
void RAND_add(const void *buf, int num, int entropy);
int RAND_status(void);
int RAND_load_file(const char *file, long max_bytes);
int RAND_write_file(const char *file);
const char *RAND_file_name(char *file, size_t num);
int RAND_egd(const char *path);
void RAND_set_rand_method(const RAND_METHOD *meth);
const RAND_METHOD *RAND_get_rand_method(void);
RAND_METHOD *RAND_OpenSSL(void);
void RAND_cleanup(void);
/* For Win32 only */
void RAND_screen(void);
int RAND_event(UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM);
=head1 DESCRIPTION
Since the introduction of the ENGINE API, the recommended way of controlling
default implementations is by using the ENGINE API functions. The default
B<RAND_METHOD>, as set by RAND_set_rand_method() and returned by
RAND_get_rand_method(), is only used if no ENGINE has been set as the default
"rand" implementation. Hence, these two functions are no longer the recommended
way to control defaults.
If an alternative B<RAND_METHOD> implementation is being used (either set
directly or as provided by an ENGINE module), then it is entirely responsible
for the generation and management of a cryptographically secure PRNG stream. The
mechanisms described below relate solely to the software PRNG implementation
built in to OpenSSL and used by default.
These functions implement a cryptographically secure pseudo-random
number generator (PRNG). It is used by other library functions for
example to generate random keys, and applications can use it when they
need randomness.
A cryptographic PRNG must be seeded with unpredictable data such as
mouse movements or keys pressed at random by the user. This is
described in L<RAND_add(3)>. Its state can be saved in a seed file
(see L<RAND_load_file(3)>) to avoid having to go through the
seeding process whenever the application is started.
L<RAND_bytes(3)> describes how to obtain random data from the
PRNG.
=head1 SEE ALSO
L<BN_rand(3)>, L<RAND_add(3)>,
L<RAND_load_file(3)>, L<RAND_egd(3)>,
L<RAND_bytes(3)>,
L<RAND_set_rand_method(3)>,
L<RAND_cleanup(3)>
=cut