1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1991, 1993
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.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
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.\"
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.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
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.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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.\" are met:
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.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
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.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
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.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
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.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
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.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
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2013-06-13 00:19:30 +00:00
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.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
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.\" without specific prior written permission.
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.\"
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.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
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.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
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.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
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.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
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.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
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.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
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.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
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.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
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.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
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.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
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.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
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.\"
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.\" @(#)random.3 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
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1999-08-28 00:22:10 +00:00
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.\" $FreeBSD$
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.\"
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2020-02-01 20:33:23 +00:00
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.Dd February 1, 2020
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.Dt RANDOM 3
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2001-07-10 13:41:46 +00:00
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.Os
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.Sh NAME
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.Nm random ,
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.Nm srandom ,
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1997-03-23 23:08:31 +00:00
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.Nm srandomdev ,
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.Nm initstate ,
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.Nm setstate
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2019-04-15 18:49:04 +00:00
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.Nd non-cryptographic pseudorandom number generator; routines for changing generators
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2000-04-21 09:42:15 +00:00
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.Sh LIBRARY
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.Lb libc
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.Sh SYNOPSIS
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2001-09-07 14:46:36 +00:00
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.In stdlib.h
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.Ft long
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.Fn random void
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.Ft void
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2016-07-26 20:11:29 +00:00
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.Fn srandom "unsigned int seed"
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1997-06-14 00:14:29 +00:00
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.Ft void
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1997-03-23 23:08:31 +00:00
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.Fn srandomdev void
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.Ft char *
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2016-07-26 20:11:29 +00:00
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.Fn initstate "unsigned int seed" "char *state" "size_t n"
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.Ft char *
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.Fn setstate "char *state"
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.Sh DESCRIPTION
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2012-09-04 21:40:53 +00:00
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.Bf -symbolic
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2015-02-25 07:49:15 +00:00
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The functions described in this manual page are not secure.
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Applications which require unpredictable random numbers should use
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2012-09-04 21:40:53 +00:00
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.Xr arc4random 3
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instead.
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.Ef
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.Pp
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2020-01-20 23:44:10 +00:00
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Unless initialized with less than 32 bytes of state, the
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.Fn random
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function
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uses a non-linear additive feedback random number generator employing a
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default table of size 31 long integers to return successive pseudo-random
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numbers in the range from 0 to
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.if t 2\u\s731\s10\d\(mi1.
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.if n (2**31)\(mi1.
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The period of this random number generator is very large, approximately
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.if t 16\(mu(2\u\s731\s10\d\(mi1).
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.if n 16*((2**31)\(mi1).
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.Pp
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2020-01-20 23:44:10 +00:00
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If initialized with less than 32 bytes of state,
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.Fn random
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2020-02-01 20:33:23 +00:00
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uses the poor-quality 32-bit Park-Miller LCG.
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2020-01-20 23:44:10 +00:00
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.Pp
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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The
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1996-03-27 20:49:07 +00:00
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.Fn random
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and
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.Fn srandom
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2020-01-20 23:44:10 +00:00
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functions are analagous to
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1996-03-27 20:49:07 +00:00
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.Xr rand 3
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and
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2020-01-20 23:44:10 +00:00
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.Xr srand 3 .
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.Pp
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1996-10-09 15:59:04 +00:00
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Like
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.Xr rand 3 ,
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.Fn random
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2020-01-20 23:44:10 +00:00
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is implicitly initialized as if
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.Fn srandom "1"
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had been invoked explicitly.
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.Pp
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The
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1997-03-23 23:08:31 +00:00
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.Fn srandomdev
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2020-01-20 23:44:10 +00:00
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routine initializes the state array using random numbers obtained from the
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kernel.
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This can generate states which are impossible to reproduce by calling
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.Fn srandom ,
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because the succeeding terms in the state buffer are no longer derived from the
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Park-Miller LCG algorithm applied to a fixed seed.
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1997-03-23 23:08:31 +00:00
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.Pp
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The
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.Fn initstate
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2020-01-20 23:44:10 +00:00
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routine initializes the provided state array of
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.Vt uint32_t
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values and uses it in future
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.Fn random
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invocations.
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(Despite the
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.Vt char *
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type of
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.Fa state ,
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the underlying object must be a naturally aligned array of 32-bit values.)
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2004-07-02 23:52:20 +00:00
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The size of the state array (in bytes) is used by
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.Fn initstate
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to decide how sophisticated a random number generator it should use \(em the
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more state, the better the random numbers will be.
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(Current "optimal" values for the amount of state information are
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8, 32, 64, 128, and 256 bytes; other amounts will be rounded down to
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2004-07-02 23:52:20 +00:00
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the nearest known amount.
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Using less than 8 bytes will cause an error.)
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2020-01-20 23:44:10 +00:00
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The
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.Fa seed
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is used as in
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.Fn srandom .
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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The
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.Fn initstate
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function
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returns a pointer to the previous state information array.
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.Pp
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The
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.Fn setstate
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2020-01-20 23:44:10 +00:00
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routine switches
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.Fn random
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to using the provided state.
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It returns a pointer to the previous state.
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.Pp
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Once a state array has been initialized, it may be restarted at a
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different point either by calling
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.Fn initstate
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(with the desired seed, the state array, and its size) or by calling
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both
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.Fn setstate
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(with the state array) and
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.Fn srandom
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(with the desired seed).
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The advantage of calling both
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.Fn setstate
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and
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.Fn srandom
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is that the size of the state array does not have to be remembered after
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it is initialized.
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.Pp
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With 256 bytes of state information, the period of the random number
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generator is greater than
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.if t 2\u\s769\s10\d,
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.if n 2**69
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which should be sufficient for most purposes.
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.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
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If
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.Fn initstate
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is called with less than 8 bytes of state information, or if
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.Fn setstate
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2016-06-05 15:46:14 +00:00
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detects that the state information has been garbled,
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NULL is returned.
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.Sh SEE ALSO
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2003-07-31 06:18:34 +00:00
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.Xr arc4random 3 ,
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2010-10-06 09:05:47 +00:00
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.Xr lrand48 3 ,
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1996-10-09 15:59:04 +00:00
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.Xr rand 3 ,
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2001-06-07 02:31:03 +00:00
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.Xr random 4
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1994-05-27 05:00:24 +00:00
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.Sh HISTORY
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These
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functions appeared in
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.Bx 4.2 .
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2005-01-20 09:17:07 +00:00
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.Sh AUTHORS
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.An Earl T. Cohen
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