Saturday, September 18, 2010

Re: simple 16-bit random number generator

> > You might have to adjust that "libc.so.6" for your OS.
>
> I like the idea of system utilities, but... Not available on this Mac.

I'm sure the standard library is available on Macs, but what
"dynamically linked libraries" are on Macs I've no idea, except that
OS X is BSD derived I thought. Have a look for something like /lib/
libc* or /usr/lib/libc*.

> How have you been "stung"?

In one case test coverage was compromised by the random numbers
repeating after 65536 numbers; each test used some power of 2, like 64
or 128. In another integer to float to integer conversions lost
bits, causing password generation code to repeat sequences of
passwords after a variable number of passwords; once you'd got a
password in one of the known sequences you could predict every
password thereafter.

Regards, John

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