Re: GnuGP and Key Creation

[Neil W Rickert]

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"Scott Johnson" <s.s@s.com> writes:

>I'm trying to generate a key on my AIX UNIX server.  GnuGP v1.2.1
>When asked to collect more entropy, I type random characters....and I
>type....and I type....and I type.

>It says it only needs 120 more bytes.   GnuGP never comes back.  I have to
>CTRL-C out.

>I found some docs that say it takes a long time if you are a remote user.
>How long?  Hours? Days?  I don't have access to the actual server so I'm
>using telnet.

If it is getting entropy from "/dev/random", then you might want to
try running "finger", or the "man" command, or a "find".  Do things
that will spin disks, cause network transactions, etc.  That may
require you to be logged in twice -- one session to run gpg and the
other to stimulate entropy collection.

I don't know whether that will actually solve your problem.  I
generated a key in a remote login several days ago.  This was on a
Solaris system.  It was slow, but not as slow as you describe.  I
tried the suggestions I just gave.  Without repeating and doing
careful timing of how long it takes, there is no way to tell whether
they helped.  When I am logged in locally with X, just moving the
mouse is sufficient.

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