179 lines
7.9 KiB
Groff
179 lines
7.9 KiB
Groff
.\"
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.\" random.c -- A strong random number generator
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.\"
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.\" Version 0.92, last modified 21-Sep-95
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.\"
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.\" Copyright Theodore Ts'o, 1994, 1995. 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, and the entire permission notice in its entirety,
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.\" including the disclaimer of warranties.
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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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.\" 3. The name of the author may not be used to endorse or promote
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.\" products derived from this software without specific prior
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.\" written permission.
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.\"
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.\" ALTERNATIVELY, this product may be distributed under the terms of
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.\" the GNU Public License, in which case the provisions of the GPL are
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.\" required INSTEAD OF the above restrictions. (This clause is
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.\" necessary due to a potential bad interaction between the GPL and
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.\" the restrictions contained in a BSD-style copyright.)
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.\"
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.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
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.\" WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
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.\" OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
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.\" DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT,
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.\" INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
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.\" (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
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.\" 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,
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.\" STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
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.\" ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED
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.\" OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
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.\"
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.\" $Id$
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.\"
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.Dd October 21, 1995
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.Dt RANDOM 4 i386
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.Os
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.Sh NAME
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.Nm random ,
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.Nm urandom
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.Nd random number devices
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.Sh DESCRIPTION
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This device gathers environmental noise from device drivers, etc.,
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and returns good random numbers, suitable for cryptographic use.
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Besides the obvious cryptographic uses, these numbers are also good
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for seeding TCP sequence numbers, and other places where it is
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desirable to have numbers which are not only random, but hard to
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predict by an attacker.
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.Ss Theory of operation
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Computers are very predictable devices. Hence it is extremely hard
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to produce truly random numbers on a computer \(em as opposed to
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pseudo-random numbers, which can easily generated by using a
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algorithm. Unfortunately, it is very easy for attackers to guess
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the sequence of pseudo-random number generators, and for some
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applications this is not acceptable. So instead, we must try to
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gather "environmental noise" from the computer's environment, which
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must be hard for outside attackers to observe, and use that to
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generate random numbers. In a Unix environment, this is best done
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from inside the kernel.
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.Pp
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Sources of randomness from the environment include inter-keyboard
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timings, inter-interrupt timings from some interrupts, and other
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events which are both (a) non-deterministic and (b) hard for an
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outside observer to measure. Randomness from these sources are
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added to an "entropy pool", which is periodically mixed using the
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MD5 compression function in CBC mode. As random bytes are mixed
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into the entropy pool, the routines keep an
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.Em estimate
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of how many bits of randomness have been stored into the random number
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generator's internal state.
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.Pp
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When random bytes are desired, they are obtained by taking the MD5
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hash of a counter plus the contents of the "entropy pool". The
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reason for the MD5 hash is so that we can avoid exposing the
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internal state of random number generator. Although the MD5 hash
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does protect the pool, each random byte which is generated from
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the pool reveals some information which was derived from the
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internal state, and thus increases the amount of information an
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outside attacker has available to try to make some guesses about
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the random number generator's internal state. For this reason,
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the routine decreases its internal estimate of how many bits of
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"true randomness" are contained in the entropy pool as it outputs
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random numbers.
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.Pp
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If this estimate goes to zero, the routine can still generate random
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numbers; however it may now be possible for an attacker to analyze
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the output of the random number generator, and the MD5 algorithm,
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and thus have some success in guessing the output of the routine.
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Phil Karn (who devised this mechanism of using MD5 plus a counter
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to extract random numbers from an entropy pool) calls this
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"practical randomness", since in the worse case this is equivalent
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to hashing MD5 with a counter and an undisclosed secret. If MD5 is
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a strong cryptographic hash, this should be fairly resistant to attack.
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.Ss Exported interfaces \(em output
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There are three exported interfaces; the first is one designed to
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be used from within the kernel:
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.Pp
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.Bl -tag -width Pa -compact
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.It Pa void get_random_bytes(void *buf, int nbytes);
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.El
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.Pp
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This interface will return the requested number of random bytes,
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and place it in the requested buffer.
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.Pp
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The two other interfaces are two character devices
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.Nm /dev/random
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and
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.Nm /dev/urandom . /dev/random
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is suitable for use when very high quality randomness is desired
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(for example, for key generation.), as it will only return a maximum
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of the number of bits of randomness (as estimated by the random number
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generator) contained in the entropy pool.
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.Pp
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The
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.Nm /dev/urandom
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device does not have this limit, and will return as many bytes as are
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requested. As more and more random bytes are requested without giving
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time for the entropy pool to recharge, this will result in lower quality
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random numbers. For many applications, however, this is acceptable.
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.Ss Exported interfaces \(em input
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The two current exported interfaces for gathering environmental
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noise from the devices are:
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.Pp
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.Bl -tag -width Pa -compact
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.It Pa void add_keyboard_randomness(unsigned char scancode);
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.It Pa void add_interrupt_randomness(int irq);
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.El
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.Pp
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The first function uses the inter-keypress timing, as well as the
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scancode as random inputs into the "entropy pool".
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.Pp
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The second function uses the inter-interrupt timing as random
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inputs to the entropy pool. Note that not all interrupts are good
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sources of randomness! For example, the timer interrupts is not a
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good choice, because the periodicity of the interrupts is too
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regular, and hence predictable to an attacker. Disk interrupts are
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a better measure, since the timing of the disk interrupts are more
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unpredictable. The routines try to estimate how many bits of
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randomness a particular interrupt channel offers, by keeping track
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of the first and second order deltas in the interrupt timings.
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.Sh ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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The original core code was written by Theodore Ts'o, and was intended
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for the Linux platform. This was ported to FreeBSD by Mark Murray,
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who also wrote the rndcontrol utility.
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.Pp
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Ideas for constructing this random number generator were derived
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from the Pretty Good Privacy's random number generator, and from
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private discussions with Phil Karn. This design has been further
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modified by myself, so any flaws are solely my responsibility, and
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should not be attributed to the authors of PGP or to Phil.
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.Pp
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The code for MD5 transform was taken from Colin Plumb's
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implementation, which has been placed in the public domain. The
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MD5 cryptographic checksum was devised by Ronald Rivest, and is
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documented in RFC 1321, "The MD5 Message Digest Algorithm".
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.Pp
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Further background information on this topic may be obtained from
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RFC 1750, "Randomness Recommendations for Security", by Donald
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Eastlake, Steve Crocker, and Jeff Schiller.
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.Sh "SEE ALSO"
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.Xr rndcontrol 8
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.Sh FILES
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.Bl -tag -width Pa -compact
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.It Pa /dev/random
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.It Pa /dev/urandom
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.El
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.Sh HISTORY
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The
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.Nm random ,
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.Nm urandom
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files appeared in
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.Fx 2.1.5 .
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