[Bug-gnubg] Re: GNUBG and Random.org

[Øystein Johansen]

JP White wrote:
> 
> I see that there is an option for getting dice rolls from random.org
> 
> In the windows version (020801) selecting this option results in an
> error message 'This installation of GNUBG was compiled without support
> for sockets needed for fetching random numbers from <www.random.org>'.

Hello again JP!

The <www.random.org> dice generator is a dice generator which picks
random numbers based on atmospheric noise, which is then published on
server. The dice generator connects to this server and get these
numbers. 

The good news:
The random numbers provided are true random. It is not an algorithm
which will produce the same number sequence every time it gets the same
seed. The quality of the random number are very good, just check the
entropy test at the web site. 

Some drawbacks.
Since this random numbers are transferred from random.org's computer to
your computer, I believe it can be a bit slow (?), which will make it
unfavorable for rollouts and other time consuming tasks which needs dice
rolls. If you have a dial up line you will also need to stay online, to
get new dice rolls continuously.

The windows issue:
Since the dice generator connects to a distant server at random.org, it
uses unix sockets to connect. The numbers are transferred by tcp/ip. The
compiler I'm using to generate the windows executables does not support
unix sockets. If I should be able to compile support for this dice
generator, I must first translate the socket part to winsock instead of
unix sockets. I don't even think I have a computer to make such
translation, since my home computer runs Linux. I won't be able to do
any testing if I try.

> Is this likely to be supported in the windows version anytime soon?

I'm sorry to say: You can't expect that to happen soon, no! If you
really think you need this dice generator, you should try a Unix/Linux
operating system.

-Øystein

-- 
It's remarkable that a science which began with the consideration of
games of chance should have become the most important object of human
knowledge....   The most important questions of life are, for the most
part, really only problems of probability.          -- Laplace, 1812