X-Git-Url: http://andersk.mit.edu/gitweb/gssapi-openssh.git/blobdiff_plain/cdd66111973295c976f1a0bb57f571eba0513757..39e70dec76acc4f638f7a209dcd8b4d40feba8f0:/openssh/WARNING.RNG

diff --git a/openssh/WARNING.RNG b/openssh/WARNING.RNG
index 71e2390..1b9137e 100644
--- a/openssh/WARNING.RNG
+++ b/openssh/WARNING.RNG
@@ -28,12 +28,8 @@ On to the description...
 The portable OpenSSH contains random number collection support for
 systems which lack a kernel entropy pool (/dev/random).
 
-This collector (as of 3.1 and beyond) comes as an external application
-that allows the local admin to decide on how to implement entropy
-collection.
-
-The default entropy collector operates by executing the programs listed
-in ($etcdir)/ssh_prng_cmds, reading their output and adding it to the
+This collector operates by executing the programs listed in
+($etcdir)/ssh_prng_cmds, reading their output and adding it to the
 PRNG supplied by OpenSSL (which is hash-based). It also stirs in the
 output of several system calls and timings from the execution of the
 programs that it runs.
@@ -44,24 +40,25 @@ the specified program.
 
 The random number code will also read and save a seed file to
 ~/.ssh/prng_seed. This contents of this file are added to the random
-number generator at startup. The goal here is to maintain as much
+number generator at startup. The goal here is to maintain as much 
 randomness between sessions as possible.
 
-The default entropy collection code has two main problems:
+The entropy collection code has two main problems:
 
 1. It is slow.
 
-Executing each program in the list can take a large amount of time,
-especially on slower machines. Additionally some program can take a
-disproportionate time to execute.
+Executing each program in the list can take a large amount of time,   
+especially on slower machines. Additionally some program can take a   
+disproportionate time to execute.                                     
 
-Tuning the default entropy collection code is difficult at this point.
-It requires doing 'times ./ssh-rand-helper'  and modifying the
-($etcdir)/ssh_prng_cmds until you have found the issue.  In the next
-release we will be looking at support '-v' for verbose output to allow
-easier debugging.
+This can be tuned by the administrator. To debug the entropy
+collection is great detail, turn on full debugging ("ssh -v -v -v" or
+"sshd -d -d -d"). This will list each program as it is executed, how
+long it took to execute, its exit status and whether and how much data
+it generated. You can the find the culprit programs which are causing
+the real slow-downs.
 
-The default entropy collector will timeout programs which take too long
+The entropy collector will timeout programs which take too long
 to execute, the actual timeout used can be adjusted with the
 --with-entropy-timeout configure option. OpenSSH will not try to
 re-execute programs which have not been found, have had a non-zero
@@ -82,15 +79,5 @@ up and various other factors.
 To make matters even more complex, some of the commands are reporting
 largely the same data as other commands (eg. the various "ps" calls).
 
-
-How to avoid the default entropy code?
-
-The best way is to read the OpenSSL documentation and recompile OpenSSL
-to use prngd or egd.  Some platforms (like earily solaris) have 3rd
-party /dev/random devices that can be also used for this task.
-
-If you are forced to use ssh-rand-helper consider still downloading
-prngd/egd and configure OpenSSH using --with-prngd-port=xx or
---with-prngd-socket=xx (refer to INSTALL for more information).
-
 $Id$
+