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@@ -2,6 +2,23 @@ Haveged, an entropy source +IMPORTANT UPDATE + +Starting from Linux kernel v5.6, the HAVEGED **service** has become obsolete. The userspace application as well as the haveged library are not affected. There are two main reasons for that: + +1) The mainline Linux Kernel has now HAVEGED algorithm build in internally, see the [LKML article.]( https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/alpine.DEB.2.21.1909290010500.2636@nanos.tec.linutronix.de/T/) + +2) Furthermore, as soon as the CRNG (the Linux cryptographic-strength random number generator) gets ready, `/dev/random` does not block on reads anymore. See the [kernel commit.](https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/30c08efec8884fb106b8e57094baa51bb4c44e32) + +I'm happy that these changes made it into the mainline kernel. It's nice to see that the main idea behind HAVEGED has sustained time test- it was published already in 2003 [here.](https://www.irisa.fr/caps/projects/hipsor/publications/havege-tomacs.pdf) + +I'm also glad that the HAVEGE algorithm is being further explored and examined - see the [CPU Jitter Random Number Generator.](https://www.chronox.de/jent.html) + +I will keep maintaining HAVEGED - there are a couple of reasons for that: +* Most Linux installations are still running on the older kernel versions. +* HAVEGED can also be used as the userspace RNG to generate random numbers. See `man -S8 haveged` for examples or try running `haveged -n 0 | pv > /dev/null` +* Last but not least, HAVEGED can be used as the RNG library. + INTRODUCTION Complete documentation on haveged can be found at http://www.issihosts.com/haveged/ |