BCMRNG(4)

💅 BCMRNG(4) — bestie edition 🎀

okay so real talk, this one's a manual page from the Kernel Interfaces Manual — section 4, the drivers-and-friends section, iykyk ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

bcmrng — the Broadcom BCM2835/BCM2836/BCM2837 random number generator, and yes it is literally a tiny machine that makes randomness for you, iconic behavior honestly 🎲💖

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

bcmrng* at fdt?

that's it, that's the whole vibe. she attaches at fdt? and that's literally her entire synopsis, no notes 💅

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so the bcmrng driver provides support for the random number generator found on the Broadcom BCM2835/BCM2836/BCM2837 SoC 🔥 (three whole SoC models, we love a range bestie)

what does it actually do? she feeds the random subsystem's entropy pool with up to 128 bits of random data every second 🫶 like clockwork, literally every second, 128 bits of pure chaos handed straight to the entropy pool. the way she just keeps going 😭👑

ngl the "up to" is doing some work there — it's up to 128 bits per second, exactly as written, don't come for me 🌸

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• intro(4) — the intro to section 4, your starting point bestie
• random(4) — the random subsystem, aka where all that sweet entropy goes 💜
• arc4random(9) — section 9 kernel-level randomness, go check it out 🧚

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⭐ HISTORY ⭐

the bcmrng driver first appeared in OpenBSD 6.3 — a whole era, we stan a documented origin story 👑

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

the bcmrng driver was written by Mark Kettenis <kettenis@openbsd.org> — thank you for your service, king, fr fr 🙏💖

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💀 the sign-off 💀

this page shipped as part of Debian, dated June 20, 2020 — so when you're reading this, just know a Debian build from that exact date is out there living its best life, and honestly? main character energy 🌟💅

that's the whole page bestie, every flag, every path, every name, no cap 🎀