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<title>
librandombytes: Intro</title>
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<div class=headline>
librandombytes</div>
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<div class="navt here">Intro
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</div><div class="navt away"><a href=install.html>Install</a>
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<p>librandombytes provides a simple API for applications generating fresh
randomness: include <code><randombytes.h></code>, call <code>randombytes(x,xbytes)</code>
whenever desired to generate fresh random bytes <code>x[0]</code>, <code>x[1]</code>, ...,
<code>x[xbytes-1]</code>, and link with <code>-lrandombytes</code>.</p>
<p>Random bytes are often used directly in applications. Random bytes are
also the foundation of more complicated random objects, such as random
integers in a limited interval, random floating-point numbers from a
(nearly) normal distribution, and random keys used in public-key
cryptosystems. librandombytes is dedicated to obtaining fresh random
bytes in the first place, and leaves it to higher-level libraries to
convert those bytes into other types of random objects.</p>
<p>librandombytes aims for the following stringent randomness goal: no
feasible computation will ever be able to tell the difference between
the output bytes and true randomness (independent uniformly distributed
random bytes). This makes the <code>randombytes()</code> output suitable for use
in applications ranging from simulations to cryptography.</p>
<p>Most alternative sources of randomness (such as <code>rand()</code> and <code>random()</code>
in C, and <code>mt19937_64</code> in C++) consider detectable deviations from true
randomness to be acceptable as long as <em>most</em> applications do not notice
the deviations. These sources are not permitted inside librandombytes;
the <code>randombytes()</code> caller is entitled to expect that the output comes
from sources that are designed for the right goal.</p>
<p>Internally, librandombytes is an abstraction layer for a choice of two
libraries, where each library provides the same <code>randombytes</code> interface
but the libraries choose two different sources of randomness:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><code>librandombytes-kernel</code> reads random bytes provided by the OS kernel
via mechanisms such as <code>getrandom()</code>. These mechanisms are typically
advertised as providing RNG security features that are harder to
provide in user space, such as hypervisor integration.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><code>librandombytes-openssl</code> uses OpenSSL's <code>RAND_bytes</code> to generate
random bytes. This mechanism is typically advertised as providing
speed that is difficult to achieve without a per-process RNG.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>The idea is that the OS can install <code>librandombytes-kernel</code> by default,
but the sysadmin can install <code>librandombytes-openssl</code> to transparently
switch all of the <code>randombytes()</code> applications to <code>RAND_bytes</code> (for
example, via Debian's <code>/etc/alternatives</code> mechanism) <em>if</em> profiling
shows that this switch is important for overall system performance.</p>
<p>Making this choice centrally means that applications are free to simply
call <code>randombytes()</code></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>without worrying about evaluating performance,</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>without worrying about how to balance performance concerns with
competing concerns, and</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>without worrying that these performance evaluations will be rendered
obsolete by speed improvements: for example, by
<a href="https://lkml.org/lkml/2023/1/1/87">ongoing work</a> to accelerate
<code>getrandom()</code>, or by the increasing deployment of
<a href="https://blog.cr.yp.to/20170723-random.html">fast-key-erasure RNGs</a>.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Another virtue of having a <code>randombytes()</code> abstraction layer is that
test frameworks can substitute a deterministic seeded <code>randombytes()</code>
providing <em>known</em> pseudorandom bytes for reproducible tests. Of course,
the <code>randombytes()</code> provided by these test frameworks must be kept
separate from the fresh <code>randombytes()</code> used for deployment.</p><hr><font size=1><b>Version:</b>
This is version 2023.09.04 of the "Intro" web page.
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