random number generator on porteus

[francois]

Is there a random number generator on porteus? If yes, how come there is nothing in /dev/random or /dev/urandom?

I need to know that in relation to a program that I tried to build: qpdf. During buildup it said that /dev/random or /dev/urandom were not available.

Thanks

[francois]

There is:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/bash-shell ... m-numbers/

Using /dev/urandom or /dev/random

The character special files /dev/random and /dev/urandom provide an interface to the kernel's random number generator. You can use /dev/urandom as follows:

Code: Select all

$ od -vAn -N4 -tu4 < /dev/urandom

Sample outputs:

Code: Select all

2494028411

You can use /dev/random as follows:

Code: Select all

$ od -An -N2 -i /dev/random

Sample outputs:
[code]62362

[/code]

So I got my answer.

[brokenman]

You can use the built in bash variable $RANDOM

Code: Select all

echo $RANDOM
let x=( $RANDOM *42) && echo $x