Re: [PATCH v1 1/1] sysctl: introduce uuid_le and uuid_be

[Andrew Morton]

On Tue, 24 May 2016 20:27:27 +0300 Andy Shevchenko <andriy.shevchenko@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> By default the sysctl interface returns random UUID in big endian format.
> Sometimes it's not suitable, e.g. using generated UUID for EFI variable name.
> Provide uuid_le and uuid_be to comprehence that interface.
> 
> ...
>
>  drivers/char/random.c       | 44 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  include/uapi/linux/sysctl.h |  4 +++-
>  kernel/sysctl_binary.c      | 48 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Why does the kernel need to do this?  If userspace wants a random uuid
then it can grab a random number and cook up the UUID itself.