<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> <!-- $Revision: 1.4 $ --> <!-- splitted from ./en/functions/mcrypt.xml, last change in rev 1.2 --> <refentry id="function.mcrypt-create-iv"> <refnamediv> <refname>mcrypt_create_iv</refname> <refpurpose> Create an initialization vector (IV) from a random source </refpurpose> </refnamediv> <refsect1> <title>Description</title> <methodsynopsis> <type>string</type><methodname>mcrypt_create_iv</methodname> <methodparam><type>int</type><parameter>size</parameter></methodparam> <methodparam><type>int</type><parameter>source</parameter></methodparam> </methodsynopsis> <para> <function>mcrypt_create_iv</function> is used to create an IV. </para> <para> <function>mcrypt_create_iv</function> takes two arguments, <parameter>size</parameter> determines the size of the IV, <parameter>source</parameter> specifies the source of the IV. </para> <para> The source can be MCRYPT_RAND (system random number generator), MCRYPT_DEV_RANDOM (read data from /dev/random) and MCRYPT_DEV_URANDOM (read data from /dev/urandom). If you use MCRYPT_RAND, make sure to call srand() before to initialize the random number generator. </para> <para> <example> <title><function>mcrypt_create_iv</function> example</title> <programlisting role="php"> <![CDATA[ <?php $size = mcrypt_get_iv_size (MCRYPT_CAST_256, MCRYPT_MODE_CFB); $iv = mcrypt_create_iv ($size, MCRYPT_DEV_RANDOM); ?> ]]> </programlisting> </example> </para> <para> The IV is only meant to give an alternative seed to the encryption routines. This IV does not need to be secret at all, though it can be desirable. You even can send it along with your ciphertext without loosing security. </para> <para> More information can be found at <ulink url="&url.mcrypt.iv;">&url.mcrypt.iv;</ulink>, <ulink url="&url.mcrypt.bcm;">&url.mcrypt.bcm;</ulink> and in chapter 9.3 of Applied Cryptography by Schneier (ISBN 0-471-11709-9) for a discussion of this topic. </para> </refsect1> </refentry> <!-- Keep this comment at the end of the file Local variables: mode: sgml sgml-omittag:t sgml-shorttag:t sgml-minimize-attributes:nil sgml-always-quote-attributes:t sgml-indent-step:1 sgml-indent-data:t indent-tabs-mode:nil sgml-parent-document:nil sgml-default-dtd-file:"../../../../manual.ced" sgml-exposed-tags:nil sgml-local-catalogs:nil sgml-local-ecat-files:nil End: vim600: syn=xml fen fdm=syntax fdl=2 si vim: et tw=78 syn=sgml vi: ts=1 sw=1 -->