Re: [PATCH v3] getrandom system call wrapper [BZ #17252]

[Florian Weimer <fweimer at redhat dot com>]

On 10/12/2016 06:10 PM, Zack Weinberg wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 12, 2016 at 11:58 AM, Florian Weimer <fweimer@redhat.com> wrote:
> > > > Can the system call really block indefinitely, or only for a long time
> > > > and (ie, will return eventually)?
> > >
> > > Yes, if the system enters a deadlock condition where the waiting for
> > > randomness prevents it from accumulating additional randomness.
> >
> > This is what happens here:
> >
> >   <https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1383060>
>
> ... How about we make the kernel not start userspace at all until the
> RNG is fully operational?

The RNG is initialized from user space, using a saved seed from disk 
(which is better than no randomness at all).

Florian