SHA-based subclass for random module

[Paul Rubin]

trevp at trevp.net (Trevor Perrin) writes:
> Slightly OT, but...
> 
> What about a subclass of Random that provides an interface to
> platform-specific secure RNGs:
>  - /dev/urandom on some unixes
>  - CryptGenRandom on windows
>  - SecureRandom on Java
> 
> I think you've suggested this yourself, a few times.  Is any work
> being done in this direction?

I think it's extremely desirable and important to add such an
interface, and maybe it should go in the random module, but it
shouldn't be a subclass of Random.  Random is intended to be a
deterministic generator.

I have a pretty dim view of the built-in SecureRandom that comes with
Java (the one that works by counting thread switches per second) but I
guess it can also be subclassed to use better sources of entropy.