Since /dev/urandom and /dev/random draw from the same pool, it should be enough ... | Hacker News

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caf on March 8, 2014 | parent | context | favorite | on: Myths about /dev/urandom

Since /dev/urandom and /dev/random draw from the same pool, it should be enough to simply read and throw away some bytes from /dev/random.

tptacek on March 8, 2014 [–]

They don't draw from literally the same pool, though their pools are fed through a common mechanism.

caf on March 8, 2014 | [–]

Sure, but if /dev/random supplies me 256 bits without blocking, then the random pool behind /dev/urandom must have been initialised with at least that much estimated entropy by that point too, right?

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