xref: /onnv-gate/usr/src/common/openssl/doc/crypto/RAND_bytes.pod (revision 2175:b0b2f052a486)
1*2175Sjp161948=pod
2*2175Sjp161948
3*2175Sjp161948=head1 NAME
4*2175Sjp161948
5*2175Sjp161948RAND_bytes, RAND_pseudo_bytes - generate random data
6*2175Sjp161948
7*2175Sjp161948=head1 SYNOPSIS
8*2175Sjp161948
9*2175Sjp161948 #include <openssl/rand.h>
10*2175Sjp161948
11*2175Sjp161948 int RAND_bytes(unsigned char *buf, int num);
12*2175Sjp161948
13*2175Sjp161948 int RAND_pseudo_bytes(unsigned char *buf, int num);
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15*2175Sjp161948=head1 DESCRIPTION
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17*2175Sjp161948RAND_bytes() puts B<num> cryptographically strong pseudo-random bytes
18*2175Sjp161948into B<buf>. An error occurs if the PRNG has not been seeded with
19*2175Sjp161948enough randomness to ensure an unpredictable byte sequence.
20*2175Sjp161948
21*2175Sjp161948RAND_pseudo_bytes() puts B<num> pseudo-random bytes into B<buf>.
22*2175Sjp161948Pseudo-random byte sequences generated by RAND_pseudo_bytes() will be
23*2175Sjp161948unique if they are of sufficient length, but are not necessarily
24*2175Sjp161948unpredictable. They can be used for non-cryptographic purposes and for
25*2175Sjp161948certain purposes in cryptographic protocols, but usually not for key
26*2175Sjp161948generation etc.
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28*2175Sjp161948=head1 RETURN VALUES
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30*2175Sjp161948RAND_bytes() returns 1 on success, 0 otherwise. The error code can be
31*2175Sjp161948obtained by L<ERR_get_error(3)|ERR_get_error(3)>. RAND_pseudo_bytes() returns 1 if the
32*2175Sjp161948bytes generated are cryptographically strong, 0 otherwise. Both
33*2175Sjp161948functions return -1 if they are not supported by the current RAND
34*2175Sjp161948method.
35*2175Sjp161948
36*2175Sjp161948=head1 SEE ALSO
37*2175Sjp161948
38*2175Sjp161948L<rand(3)|rand(3)>, L<ERR_get_error(3)|ERR_get_error(3)>,
39*2175Sjp161948L<RAND_add(3)|RAND_add(3)>
40*2175Sjp161948
41*2175Sjp161948=head1 HISTORY
42*2175Sjp161948
43*2175Sjp161948RAND_bytes() is available in all versions of SSLeay and OpenSSL.  It
44*2175Sjp161948has a return value since OpenSSL 0.9.5. RAND_pseudo_bytes() was added
45*2175Sjp161948in OpenSSL 0.9.5.
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47*2175Sjp161948=cut
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