cleanup

RAND_egd_bytes() queries the entropy gathering daemon EGD on socket B<path>.

It queries B<bytes> bytes and uses L<RAND_add(3)|RAND_add(3)> to seed the

OpenSSL built-in PRNG.

This function is more flexible than RAND_egd().

When only one secret key must

be generated, it is not necessary to request the full amount 255 bytes from

the EGD socket. This can be advantageous, since the amount of entropy

that can be retrieved from EGD over time is limited.

RAND_query_egd_bytes() performs the actual query of the EGD daemon on socket

B<path>. If B<buf> is given, B<bytes> bytes are queried and written into

a socket interface through which entropy can be gathered in chunks up to

255 bytes. Several chunks can be queried during one connection.

While RAND_egd() is longer available (see HISTORY section), the

RAND_egd_bytes() function is more flexible. When only one secret key must

be generated, it is not needed to request the full amount 255 bytes from

the EGD socket. This can be advantageous, since the amount of entropy

that can be retrieved from EGD over time is limited.

EGD is available from http://www.lothar.com/tech/crypto/ (C<perl

Makefile.PL; make; make install> to install). It is run as B<egd>

I<path>, where I<path> is an absolute path designating a socket. When