GENRANDOM(3)

📦 version 0_git20260208, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

🎀 NAME 🎀

okay so this is GENRANDOM(3), straight outta the Library Functions Manual, and it's all about genrandom, prng — random number generation, bestie. Like, the whole “where do unguessable numbers come from” situation. ✨

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <u.h>
#include <libc.h>
#include <mp.h>
#include <libsec.h>

void genrandom(uchar *buf, int nbytes)

void prng(uchar *buf, int nbytes)

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Most security software literally requires a source of random numbers — or, at the very least, numbers you can’t guess. no cap. 💅

  • genrandom fills a buffer with bytes from the X9.17 pseudo-random number generator. The X9.17 generator is seeded by 24 truly random bytes read via truerand (see rand(3)). 🎀
  • prng uses the native rand(3) pseudo-random number generator to fill the buffer. Used with srand, this function can produce a reproducible stream of pseudo random numbers useful in testing. 🫶

Both functions may be passed to mprand (see mp(3)). 🌈

⭐ SOURCE ⭐

/src/libsec

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

that’s the GENRANDOM(3) page, sourced from /src/libsec — and tbh this one doesn’t print a date or version line, so I’m not gonna invent one, bestie. 💖

📦 where this page comes from