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author | Sebastian Lackner | 2017-11-19 13:30:04 +0100 |
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committer | rfjakob | 2017-11-21 23:37:06 +0100 |
commit | f3c777d5eaa682d878c638192311e52f9c204294 (patch) | |
tree | dc3fcf616371479abec93ab93688f9e2937e7d9d /Documentation/MANPAGE.md | |
parent | 1b0426bcb23a1850f3a03619a15413281dc733e3 (diff) |
main: Add '-devrandom' commandline option
Allows to use /dev/random for generating the master key instead of the
default Go implementation. When the kernel random generator has been
properly initialized both are considered equally secure, however:
* Versions of Go prior to 1.9 just fall back to /dev/urandom if the
getrandom() syscall would be blocking (Go Bug #19274)
* Kernel versions prior to 3.17 do not support getrandom(), and there
is no check if the random generator has been properly initialized
before reading from /dev/urandom
This is especially useful for embedded hardware with low-entroy. Please
note that generation of the master key might block indefinitely if the
kernel cannot harvest enough entropy.
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/MANPAGE.md')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/MANPAGE.md | 7 |
1 files changed, 7 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/MANPAGE.md b/Documentation/MANPAGE.md index efb8565..d3a6c81 100644 --- a/Documentation/MANPAGE.md +++ b/Documentation/MANPAGE.md @@ -51,6 +51,13 @@ be suitable. #### -d, -debug Enable debug output +#### -devrandom +Use /dev/random for generating the master key instead of the default Go +implementation. This is especially useful on embedded systems with Go versions +prior to 1.9, which fall back to weak random data when the getrandom syscall +is blocking. Using this option can block indefinitely when the kernel cannot +harvest enough entropy. + #### -extpass string Use an external program (like ssh-askpass) for the password prompt. The program should return the password on stdout, a trailing newline is |