xref: /onnv-gate/usr/src/common/openssl/doc/crypto/BN_rand.pod (revision 2175:b0b2f052a486)
1*2175Sjp161948=pod
2*2175Sjp161948
3*2175Sjp161948=head1 NAME
4*2175Sjp161948
5*2175Sjp161948BN_rand, BN_pseudo_rand - generate pseudo-random number
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7*2175Sjp161948=head1 SYNOPSIS
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9*2175Sjp161948 #include <openssl/bn.h>
10*2175Sjp161948
11*2175Sjp161948 int BN_rand(BIGNUM *rnd, int bits, int top, int bottom);
12*2175Sjp161948
13*2175Sjp161948 int BN_pseudo_rand(BIGNUM *rnd, int bits, int top, int bottom);
14*2175Sjp161948
15*2175Sjp161948 int BN_rand_range(BIGNUM *rnd, BIGNUM *range);
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17*2175Sjp161948 int BN_pseudo_rand_range(BIGNUM *rnd, BIGNUM *range);
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19*2175Sjp161948=head1 DESCRIPTION
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21*2175Sjp161948BN_rand() generates a cryptographically strong pseudo-random number of
22*2175Sjp161948B<bits> bits in length and stores it in B<rnd>. If B<top> is -1, the
23*2175Sjp161948most significant bit of the random number can be zero. If B<top> is 0,
24*2175Sjp161948it is set to 1, and if B<top> is 1, the two most significant bits of
25*2175Sjp161948the number will be set to 1, so that the product of two such random
26*2175Sjp161948numbers will always have 2*B<bits> length.  If B<bottom> is true, the
27*2175Sjp161948number will be odd.
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29*2175Sjp161948BN_pseudo_rand() does the same, but pseudo-random numbers generated by
30*2175Sjp161948this function are not necessarily unpredictable. They can be used for
31*2175Sjp161948non-cryptographic purposes and for certain purposes in cryptographic
32*2175Sjp161948protocols, but usually not for key generation etc.
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34*2175Sjp161948BN_rand_range() generates a cryptographically strong pseudo-random
35*2175Sjp161948number B<rnd> in the range 0 <lt>= B<rnd> E<lt> B<range>.
36*2175Sjp161948BN_pseudo_rand_range() does the same, but is based on BN_pseudo_rand(),
37*2175Sjp161948and hence numbers generated by it are not necessarily unpredictable.
38*2175Sjp161948
39*2175Sjp161948The PRNG must be seeded prior to calling BN_rand() or BN_rand_range().
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41*2175Sjp161948=head1 RETURN VALUES
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43*2175Sjp161948The functions return 1 on success, 0 on error.
44*2175Sjp161948The error codes can be obtained by L<ERR_get_error(3)|ERR_get_error(3)>.
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46*2175Sjp161948=head1 SEE ALSO
47*2175Sjp161948
48*2175Sjp161948L<bn(3)|bn(3)>, L<ERR_get_error(3)|ERR_get_error(3)>, L<rand(3)|rand(3)>,
49*2175Sjp161948L<RAND_add(3)|RAND_add(3)>, L<RAND_bytes(3)|RAND_bytes(3)>
50*2175Sjp161948
51*2175Sjp161948=head1 HISTORY
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53*2175Sjp161948BN_rand() is available in all versions of SSLeay and OpenSSL.
54*2175Sjp161948BN_pseudo_rand() was added in OpenSSL 0.9.5. The B<top> == -1 case
55*2175Sjp161948and the function BN_rand_range() were added in OpenSSL 0.9.6a.
56*2175Sjp161948BN_pseudo_rand_range() was added in OpenSSL 0.9.6c.
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58*2175Sjp161948=cut
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