i need init and destroy

[Alan DeKok]

Frank Cusack <fcusack at fcusack.com> wrote:
> It's fairly obvious from the code.

  OK.  A work-around can be to do:

static int initialized_flag = FALSE;

instantiate()
{
	if (!initialized_flag) {
		do stuff...
	}
}


  I wouldn't worry about the "destroy" function.

>  I open a single file handle to /dev/random, shared by all
> instances, and I setup an hmac key which I need to sign
> access-challenge STATE attributes.  I close the fd and clear the
> hmac in destroy.

  A *larger* issue is that you shouldn't be using /dev/random, as it's
blocking.  It's also non-portable (for what that's worth).  I suggest
using lrad_rand(), which returns a cryptographically strong random
32-bit integer.

  As for signing the State attribute, the HMAC key can also be
generated by using lrad_rand().

> You're right, no module *needs* init and destroy.  These are easily
> simulated with pthread_once() and a refcount, but you can consider
> the modules to be classes, and a static constructor and destructor
> is a natural for them.  init and destroy methods make sense.

  And LD_PRELOAD as class overloading... (yes, I've done it)

>  There's no reason a module *has* to use them, but they should be
> there if you want them.

  We can add them back in, but I don't think they're *required* for
what you're doing.

  The hmac key for signing State SHOULD be per-instance, too.
Otherwise you run into the issue of one OTP module getting a State
from another one, and not knowing what to do with it.

  Alan DeKok.