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Fix #19052; [backport:1.6.0] (#19053)
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* Fix #19052; [backport:1.6.0]

Adds a compile flag to avoid a getrandom syscall, fixing #19052.

This is neccesary when the getrandom syscall is missing, as noted in #19052, particularly in kernel versions < 3.17 when getrandom was introduced. Specifically relevant is this is missing from kernel 3.10, which is the supported kernel throughout RHEL 7 and CentOS 7, which is widely used at many organizations. Without this, versions of nim that include sysrand (i.e. versions >= 1.6.0) will not compile without modification, however with this change a compile flag may be used to fall back using /dev/urandom as done with any unknown Posix OS (preferred here as a fallback since it already supplies a cryptographically secure PRNG and existing code deals with entropy pool init, etc).

The change is placed behind a compile flag, as discussed in github ticket #19052 (summed up here):
* First, I can't seem to catch that a importc such as SYS_getrandom is declared without using it (the declared proc returns true, but compiler throws an undeclared identifier flag when referencing it).
* Second, it seemed preferable to be behaviorally explicit vs implicit when considering this is intended to be a cryptographically secure PRNG.
* Third, if I intend to compile on a kernel >= 3.17 while running the binary on at least one system < 3.17, I'll want to be able to target this without relying on a compile time determination if the getrandom syscall is available.

* Documenting compile flag for -d:nimNoGetRandom and adding changelog entry
Related to #19052 and comments in PR #19053. Also created a new changelog file since none currently exists.

Co-authored-by: Timothy Alexander <[email protected]>
(cherry picked from commit dde5566)
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dragonfyre13 authored and narimiran committed Nov 3, 2021
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31 changes: 31 additions & 0 deletions changelogs/changelog.md
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# v1.xx.x - yyyy-mm-dd

## Changes affecting backward compatibility

## Standard library additions and changes

### New compile flag (`-d:nimNoGetRandom`) when building `std/sysrand` to remove dependency on linux `getrandom` syscall

This compile flag only affects linux builds and is necessary if either compiling on a linux kernel version < 3.17, or if code built will be executing on kernel < 3.17.

On linux kernels < 3.17 (such as kernel 3.10 in RHEL7 and CentOS7), the `getrandom` syscall was not yet introduced. Without this, the `std/sysrand` module will not build properly, and if code is built on a kernel >= 3.17 without the flag, any usage of the `std/sysrand` module will fail to execute on a kernel < 3.17 (since it attempts to perform a syscall to `getrandom`, which isn't present in the current kernel). A compile flag has been added to force the `std/sysrand` module to use /dev/urandom (available since linux kernel 1.3.30), rather than the `getrandom` syscall. This allows for use of a cryptographically secure PRNG, regardless of kernel support for the `getrandom` syscall.

When building for RHEL7/CentOS7 for example, the entire build process for nim from a source package would then be:
```sh
$ yum install devtoolset-8 # Install GCC version 8 vs the standard 4.8.5 on RHEL7/CentOS7. Alternatively use -d:nimEmulateOverflowChecks. See issue #13692 for details
$ scl enable devtoolset-8 bash # Run bash shell with default toolchain of gcc 8
$ sh build.sh # per unix install instructions
$ bin/nim c koch # per unix install instructions
$ ./koch boot -d:release # per unix install instructions
$ ./koch tools -d:nimNoGetRandom # pass the nimNoGetRandom flag to compile std/sysrand without support for getrandom syscall
```

This is necessary to pass when building nim on kernel versions < 3.17 in particular to avoid an error of "SYS_getrandom undeclared" during the build process for stdlib (sysrand in particular).

## Language changes


## Compiler changes


## Tool changes
7 changes: 6 additions & 1 deletion lib/std/sysrand.nim
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## .. _randomFillSync: https://nodejs.org/api/crypto.html#crypto_crypto_randomfillsync_buffer_offset_size
## .. _/dev/urandom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//dev/random
##
## On a Linux target, a call to the `getrandom` syscall can be avoided (e.g.
## for targets running kernel version < 3.17) by passing a compile flag of
## `-d:nimNoGetRandom`. If this flag is passed, sysrand will use `/dev/urandom`
## as with any other POSIX compliant OS.
##

runnableExamples:
doAssert urandom(0).len == 0
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result = randomBytes(addr dest[0], size)

elif defined(linux):
elif defined(linux) and not defined(nimNoGetRandom):
# TODO using let, pending bootstrap >= 1.4.0
var SYS_getrandom {.importc: "SYS_getrandom", header: "<sys/syscall.h>".}: clong
const syscallHeader = """#include <unistd.h>
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