Re: Porting issue with openssl and no /dev/random

Bruno Wolff III <bruno(at)cerberus(dot)csd(dot)uwm(dot)edu> writes:
> In some sense the real problem is that tru64 unix doesn't have a /dev/random
> device. This should really be a standard feature in all unix like systems.

Yeah. I suspect the real subtext here is that the openssl people would
like to see such systems go away, or else force people to run
substitutes for /dev/random (egd for example). They can't quite muster
the political gumption to say "you MUST run egd" to users, however,
and the result is that application authors are invited to supply
half-baked kluges to fill the gap.

> Maybe a note could get tacked on to the INSTALL information for enabling
> ssl to warn people that there might be issues if they are using openssl
> and their system doesn't have a /dev/random device?

If you didn't read openssl's own warnings to that effect, you probably
won't notice Postgres' either ;-)

regards, tom lane