<!-- Copyright (c) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2013 The President and Fellows of Harvard College. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE UNIVERSITY AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE UNIVERSITY OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. --> <html> <head> <title>random</title> <body bgcolor=#ffffff> <h2 align=center>random</h2> <h4 align=center>OS/161 Reference Manual</h4> <h3>Name</h3> <p> random - pseudorandom number generation </p> <h3>Library</h3> <p> Standard C Library (libc, -lc) </p> <h3>Synopsis</h3> <p> <tt>#include <stdlib.h></tt><br> <br> <tt>long</tt><br> <tt>random(void);</tt><br> <br> <tt>void</tt><br> <tt>srandom(unsigned long </tt><em>seed</em><tt>);</tt><br> </p> <h3>Description</h3> <p> <tt>random</tt> returns a number between 0 and 0x7fffffff. This number is selected using a rather complex generator which is believed to generate randomness of an acceptable (though not cryptographic) quality. Unlike with some generators, all bits of the values returned are random. </p> <p> <tt>srandom</tt> initializes the generator state based on the passed-in <em>seed</em>. If <tt>srandom</tt> is not called, the sequence of numbers returned by <tt>random</tt> is the same as if <tt>srandom</tt> had been called with a <em>seed</em> of 1. </p> <p> The symbolic constant <tt>RAND_MAX</tt> is provided to hold the maximum value 0x7fffffff. This is technically incorrect as the name <tt>RAND_MAX</tt> is properly part of a different random number interface. </p> <p> The implementation of <tt>random</tt> and <tt>srandom</tt> used in OS/161 is software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contributors. </p> </body> </html>