Re: [Expectperl-discuss] keyboard input

[Roland G. <r.g...@xs...>]

a-i...@no... wrote:
> 
> I have a small problem with expect.pm. I am using expect module to create pgp
> keys with my pgp program. The problem is since expect just enters the data with
> constant time, pgp cannot doesn't collect enough random data and that's why
> cannot create the keys instantly and requires user to enter some random data
> from the keyboard. I tried to print some long random text but pgp doesn't get
> any of it. I think it requires the random data to be inputted from the
> keyboard. Is there any way to do that? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in
> advance.

Well, this isn't supposed to work that way.  PGP does everything to get
real random numbers by timing the user keystrokes, and this requires
low-level interaction wiht the keyboard driver, circumventing the regular
pty that Expect uses.  

So basically, this is a PGP issue: if you can get PGP to not query the user
for random bits, then it is doable.

On the other hand:  why would you want to automate such a security-sensitive
action?  The keys are to be protected by a pass-phrase, which should be
kept secret by all means, so automating this is counter-productive.
Creating a public/secret key pair is analogue to opening a bank account,
something that you don't do on a daily basis either.

Hope this helps,

Roland
--
RGi...@cp...