Linus Torvalds responds to petition to remove RdRand from /dev/random

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Really funny petition at http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/linus-torvalds-remove-rdrand-from-dev-random-4

Linus’ reply:

Where do I start a petition to raise the IQ and kernel knowledge of people? Guys, go read drivers/char/random.c. Then, learn about cryptography. Finally, come back here and admit to the world that you were wrong. Short answer: we actually know what we are doing. You don’t. Long answer: we use rdrand as one of many inputs into the random pool, and we use it as a way to improve that random pool. So even if rdrand were to be back-doored by the NSA, our use of rdrand actually improves the quality of the random numbers you get from /dev/random. Really short answer: you’re ignorant.

 

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