NAME

prngd-ctl - query a prngd or EGD entropy socket

SYNOPSIS

/opt/amix/bin/prngd-ctl socket get
/opt/amix/bin/prngd-ctl socket read n
/opt/amix/bin/prngd-ctl socket readb n
/opt/amix/bin/prngd-ctl socket pid

DESCRIPTION

prngd-ctl connects to the unix socket socket of a running prngd(1) (or any daemon that speaks the EGD protocol), sends one command and prints the answer. The socket the shipped start script uses is /var/run/egd-pool.

get

prints the number of bits of entropy the daemon holds.

read n

reads up to n random bytes, 0 to 255, without waiting, and writes them to standard output as they are, not encoded. A daemon that is still gathering may return fewer, or none.

readb n

reads exactly n random bytes, 0 to 255, waiting until the daemon has them, and writes them to standard output as they are.

pid

prints the process id of the daemon.

The command names may be given in either case. Writing entropy into the pool is not implemented.

EXIT STATUS

0 when the daemon answered; 1 on a usage error, a number out of range, or a socket that cannot be reached or does not answer.

EXAMPLES

/opt/amix/bin/prngd-ctl /var/run/egd-pool get
/opt/amix/bin/prngd-ctl /var/run/egd-pool readb 16 | od -b

SEE ALSO

prngd(1)

NOTES

This page is written for the Amix package: upstream's prngd-ctl is documented only in the comment at the top of its source.