package Crypt::OpenSSL::Random; use strict; use Carp; use vars qw($VERSION @ISA @EXPORT @EXPORT_OK $AUTOLOAD); require Exporter; require DynaLoader; use AutoLoader; @ISA = qw(Exporter DynaLoader); # Items to export into callers namespace by default. Note: do not export # names by default without a very good reason. Use EXPORT_OK instead. # Do not simply export all your public functions/methods/constants. @EXPORT_OK = qw( random_bytes random_pseudo_bytes random_seed random_egd random_status ); $VERSION = '0.03'; bootstrap Crypt::OpenSSL::Random $VERSION; # Preloaded methods go here. # Autoload methods go after =cut, and are processed by the autosplit program. 1; __END__ =head1 NAME Crypt::OpenSSL::RSA - RSA encoding and decoding, using the openSSL libraries Crypt::OpenSSL::Random - Routines for accessing the OpenSSL pseudo-random number generator =head1 SYNOPSIS use Crypt::OpenSSL::Random; Crypt::OpenSSL::Random::random_seed($good_random_data); Crypt::OpenSSL::Random::random_egd("/tmp/entropy"); Crypt::OpenSSL::Random::random_status() or die "Unable to sufficiently seed the random number generator". my $ten_good_random_bytes = Crypt::OpenSSL::Random::random_bytes(10); my $ten_ok_random_bytes = Crypt::OpenSSL::Random::random_pseudo_bytes(10); =head1 DESCRIPTION Crypt::OpenSSL::Random provides the ability to seed and query the OpenSSL library's pseudo-random number generator =head2 EXPORT None by default. =head1 Static Methods =item random_bytes This function, returns a specified number of cryptographically strong pseudo-random bytes from the PRNG. If the PRNG has not been seeded with enough randomness to ensure an unpredictable byte sequence, then a false value is returned. =item random_pseudo_bytes This function, is similar to c, but the resulting sequence of bytes are not necessarily unpredictable. They can be used for non-cryptographic purposes and for certain purposes in cryptographic protocols, but usually not for key generation etc. =item random_seed This function seeds the PRNG with a supplied string of bytes. It returns true if the PRNG has sufficient seeding. Note: calling this function with non-random bytes is of limited value at best! =item random_egd This function seeds the PRNG with data from the specified entropy gathering daemon. Returns the number of bytes read from the daemon on succes, or -1 if not enough bytes were read, or if the connection to the daemon failed. =item random_status This function returns true if the PRNG has sufficient seeding. =head1 BUGS Because of the internal workings of OpenSSL's random library, the pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) accessed by Crypt::OpenSSL::Random will be different than the one accessed by any other perl module. Hence, to use a module such as Crypt::OpenSSL::Random, you will need to seed the PRNG used there from one used here. This class is still advantageous, however, as it centralizes other methods, such as random_egd, in one place. =head1 AUTHOR Ian Robertson, iroberts@cpan.com =head1 SEE ALSO perl(1), rand(3), RAND_add(3), RAND_egd(3), RAND_bytes(3). =cut