[gssapi-openssh.git] / openssh / ssh-rand-helper.0

SSH-RAND-HELPER(8)      OpenBSD System Manager's Manual     SSH-RAND-HELPER(8)

NAME
     ssh-rand-helper - Random number gatherer for OpenSSH

SYNOPSIS
     ssh-rand-hlper [-vxXh] [-b bytes]

DESCRIPTION
     ssh-rand-helper is a small helper program used by ssh(1), ssh-add(1),
     ssh-agent(1), ssh-keygen(1), ssh-keyscan(1) and sshd(8) to gather random
     numbers of cryptographic quality if the openssl(4) library has not been
     configured to provide them itself.

     Normally ssh-rand-helper will generate a strong random seed and provide
     it to the calling program via standard output. If standard output is a
     tty, ssh-rand-helper will instead print the seed in hexidecimal format
     unless told otherwise.

     ssh-rand-helper will by default gather random numbers from the system
     commands listed in /etc/ssh/ssh_prng_cmds.  The output of each of the
     commands listed will be hashed and used to generate a random seed for the
     calling program.  ssh-rand-helper will also store seed files in
     ~/.ssh/prng_seed between executions.

     Alternately, ssh-rand-helper may be configured at build time to collect
     random numbers from a EGD/PRNGd server via a unix domain or localhost tcp
     socket.

     This program is not intended to be run by the end-user, so the few com-
     mandline options are for debugging purposes only.

     -b bytes
             Specify the number of random bytes to include in the output.

     -x      Output a hexidecimal instead of a binary seed.

     -X      Force output of a binary seed, even if standard output is a tty

     -v      Turn on debugging message. Multiple -v options will increase the
             debugging level.  -h Display a summary of options.

AUTHORS
     Damien Miller <djm@mindrot.org>

SEE ALSO
     ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-keygen(1), sshd(8)

OpenBSD 4.0                     April 14, 2002                               1
Commit	Line	Data
9108f8d9	1	SSH-RAND-HELPER(8) OpenBSD System Manager's Manual SSH-RAND-HELPER(8)
	2
	3	NAME
	4	ssh-rand-helper - Random number gatherer for OpenSSH
	5
	6	SYNOPSIS
	7	ssh-rand-hlper [-vxXh] [-b bytes]
	8
	9	DESCRIPTION
	10	ssh-rand-helper is a small helper program used by ssh(1), ssh-add(1),
	11	ssh-agent(1), ssh-keygen(1), ssh-keyscan(1) and sshd(8) to gather random
	12	numbers of cryptographic quality if the openssl(4) library has not been
	13	configured to provide them itself.
	14
	15	Normally ssh-rand-helper will generate a strong random seed and provide
	16	it to the calling program via standard output. If standard output is a
	17	tty, ssh-rand-helper will instead print the seed in hexidecimal format
	18	unless told otherwise.
	19
	20	ssh-rand-helper will by default gather random numbers from the system
	21	commands listed in /etc/ssh/ssh_prng_cmds. The output of each of the
	22	commands listed will be hashed and used to generate a random seed for the
	23	calling program. ssh-rand-helper will also store seed files in
	24	~/.ssh/prng_seed between executions.
	25
	26	Alternately, ssh-rand-helper may be configured at build time to collect
	27	random numbers from a EGD/PRNGd server via a unix domain or localhost tcp
	28	socket.
	29
	30	This program is not intended to be run by the end-user, so the few com-
	31	mandline options are for debugging purposes only.
	32
	33	-b bytes
	34	Specify the number of random bytes to include in the output.
	35
	36	-x Output a hexidecimal instead of a binary seed.
	37
	38	-X Force output of a binary seed, even if standard output is a tty
	39
	40	-v Turn on debugging message. Multiple -v options will increase the
	41	debugging level. -h Display a summary of options.
	42
	43	AUTHORS
	44	Damien Miller <djm@mindrot.org>
	45
	46	SEE ALSO
	47	ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-keygen(1), sshd(8)
	48
	49	OpenBSD 4.0 April 14, 2002 1