From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Richard Stallman Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: random doesn't feel very random Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2012 23:41:13 -0400 Message-ID: References: <876288yh72.fsf@kanis.fr> <87wr0livd4.fsf@Rainer.invalid> Reply-To: rms@gnu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15 X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1346038881 16781 80.91.229.3 (27 Aug 2012 03:41:21 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2012 03:41:21 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Achim Gratz Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Aug 27 05:41:22 2012 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1T5qCV-0004AS-8h for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 27 Aug 2012 05:41:19 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:42554 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1T5qCT-0001Mj-C2 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 26 Aug 2012 23:41:17 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([208.118.235.92]:43873) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1T5qCR-0001Md-Jk for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 26 Aug 2012 23:41:16 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1T5qCQ-0006hR-Mv for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 26 Aug 2012 23:41:15 -0400 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([208.118.235.10]:41848) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1T5qCQ-0006hN-Jf for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 26 Aug 2012 23:41:14 -0400 Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1T5qCP-0001eb-Mt; Sun, 26 Aug 2012 23:41:13 -0400 In-reply-to: <87wr0livd4.fsf@Rainer.invalid> (message from Achim Gratz on Sun, 26 Aug 2012 16:24:55 +0200) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 3) X-Received-From: 208.118.235.10 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:152857 Archived-At: Given the widespread use of (random t) it should probably be made a no-op and a separate API to provide a local state for application that wish to control it for whatever reason should be made available. It is a feature that, if you don't call (random t), `random' returns a predictable sequence. That is good for debugging. Perhaps we should create a different interface for that feature and make the default truly random. -- Dr Richard Stallman President, Free Software Foundation 51 Franklin St Boston MA 02110 USA www.fsf.org www.gnu.org Skype: No way! That's nonfree (freedom-denying) software. Use Ekiga or an ordinary phone call