Re: ssh, /dev/urandom

[Marcus Brinkmann <Marcus.Brinkmann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de>]

On Thu, Dec 19, 2002 at 12:45:07PM -0800, Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote:
> No, not at all.  I don't want to give the user a fake feeling.  I want
> the user to be able to make a judgement "in this case, the security is
> not important, but telnet is a major hassle, so I choose the fake
> ssh". 

Nothing to disagree with, except that we know that there _will be_ users who
don't grasp such a long and winding argument and just see ssh, having a
vague recollection of someone saying that ssh is secure, and will use that,
thinking it is.

That is Alfred's argument: That to the ignorance, it is better to have no
need to keep in mind that something isn't as secure as it could or should be
because of some complicated reason.  It's not a technical or rational
argument, but more a psychological/human argument.

My thinking on this issue is that energy is much better put into the correct
and working solution.  Help ddavies with the random module for oskit, help
with oskit-based GNU Mach becoming usable.  There are a couple of people
working on the remaining issues, but there could be more.

Thanks,
Marcus

-- 
`Rhubarb is no Egyptian god.' GNU      http://www.gnu.org    marcus@gnu.org
Marcus Brinkmann              The Hurd http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/
Marcus.Brinkmann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
http://www.marcus-brinkmann.de/