RE: [PATCH net-next 4/9] rxrpc: Randomise epoch and starting client conn ID values

[David Laight]

From: David Howells
> Sent: 04 September 2016 22:03
> Create a random epoch value rather than a time-based one on startup and set
> the top bit to indicate that this is the case.

Why set the top bit?
There is nothing to stop the time (in seconds) from having the top bit set.
Nothing else can care - otherwise this wouldn't work.

> Also create a random starting client connection ID value.  This will be
> incremented from here as new client connections are created.

I'm guessing this is to make duplicates less likely after a restart?
You may want to worry about duplicate allocations (after 2^32 connects).
There are id allocation algorithms that guarantee not to generate duplicates
and not to reuse values quickly while still being fixed cost.
Look at the code NetBSD uses to allocate process ids for an example.

	David