DFSG NEW Queue

DFSG, Licensing & New Packages Team

rng-tools 6.17-1

Package Information

DescriptionDaemon to use a Hardware TRNG

The rngd daemon acts as a bridge between a Hardware TRNG (true random number generator) such as the ones in some Intel/AMD/VIA chipsets, and the kernel's PRNG (pseudo-random number generator).

It tests the data received from the TRNG using the FIPS 140-2 (2002-10-10) tests to verify that it is indeed random, and feeds the random data to the kernel entropy pool.

This increases the bandwidth of the /dev/random device, from a source that does not depend on outside activity. This may improve the behavior of systems which experience low values in /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail It may also improve the quality (entropy) of the randomness of /dev/random.

A TRNG kernel module such as hw_random, or some other source of true entropy that is accessible as a device or fifo, is required to use this package. It will take advantage of the RDRAND and RDSEED instructions included in some Intel & AMD CPUs.

MaintainerBastian Germann <bage@debian.org>
Changed ByBastian Germann <bage@debian.org>
Sponsorbage@debian.org
Distributionexperimental
Architectureany
Closes#847962
Popcon Installs553
Trackerhttps://tracker.debian.org/pkg/rng-tools
Uploaded2 hours ago

New Package Report

.changes
DateTue, 21 Jul 2026 23:03:41 +0200
Sourcerng-tools
Version6.17-1
Changed-ByBastian Germann
Architecturesource amd64
Distributionexperimental
Changelog
rng-tools (6.17-1) experimental; urgency=medium
 .
   * Scan GitHub for new versions (Closes: #970388)
   * Update debhelper-compat to 14
   * Update to latest upstream version, reintroducing the rng-tools source
     package (Closes: #922677, #847962)
.dsc
Priorityoptional
Componentmain
Package-Listrng-tools deb utils optional arch=any
Sectionutils
debian/copyright
Format: https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/
Upstream-Name: rng-tools
Source: https://github.com/nhorman/rng-tools

Files: *
Copyright: 2001 Philipp Rumpf
           Jeff Garzik <jgarzik@pobox.com>
           2004 Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@debian.org>
           2011-2014 Intel Corporation
           2009 Red Hat, Inc.
License: GPL-2+

Files: configure.ac
Copyright: 2004 Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@debian.org> / 2001 Philipp Rumpf
License: GPL-2+

Files: exits.h
       rngtest.1.in
       rngtest.c
       stats.c
       stats.h
Copyright: 2004 Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@debian.org>
License: GPL-2+

Files: fips.c
       fips.h
       rngd.c
       rngd.h
       rngd_entsource.c
       rngd_entsource.h
       rngd_linux.c
       rngd_linux.h
Copyright: 2001 Philipp Rumpf
License: GPL-2+

Files: rdrand_asm.S
       rngd_rdrand.c
Copyright: 2011-2014 Intel Corporation
License: GPL-2+

Files: rngd.8.in
Copyright: 2001 Jeff Garzik -- jgarzik@pobox.com
License: GPL-2+

Files: util.c
Copyright: 2009 Red Hat, Inc.
License: GPL
 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 the Free Software Foundation.
 .
 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 GNU General Public License for more details.
 .
 On Debian systems, the complete text of the GNU General
 Public License can be found in "/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL".

License: GPL-2+
 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
 (at your option) any later version.
 .
 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 GNU General Public License for more details.
 .
 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
 Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Suite 500, Boston, MA  02110-1335  USA
 .
 On Debian systems, the complete text of the GNU General
 Public License version 2 can be found in "/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-2".

Back to Dashboard | View all reviews for this package