Crate nanorand

A library meant for fast, random number generation with quick compile time, and minimal dependencies.

Examples

Generating a number with an initialized RNG

use nanorand::{RNG, WyRand};

let mut rng = WyRand::new();
println!("Random number: {}", rng.generate::<u64>());

Generating a number with a thread-local RNG

use nanorand::RNG;

let mut rng = nanorand::tls_rng();
println!("Random number: {}", rng.generate::<u64>());

Generating a number in a range

use nanorand::{RNG, WyRand};

let mut rng = WyRand::new();
println!("Random number between 1 and 100: {}", rng.generate_range::<u64>(1, 100));

Shuffling a Vec

use nanorand::{RNG, WyRand};

let mut rng = WyRand::new();
let mut items = vec![1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10];
rng.shuffle(&mut items);

Why should I use this over...

• rand - The standard rand crate is a complex beast. It contains unsafe code in the core implementations, and while it has much more options than we do, that's kind of the point. We're straight to the point, while rand is everything and the kitchen sink.
• fastrand, oorandom, random-fast-rng, or randomize - These are all minimal, zero-dep implementations of the PCG family of RNGs (Pcg32 and Pcg64). While these are decent, they are much slower than wyrand (which beats the speed of these Pcg32 implementations while providing 64 random bits), and do not provide CSPRNGs.
• getrandom - The getrandom crate just provides OS entropy sources. It is not meant for random number generation. In fact, we provide it as an optional entropy source.

RNG Implementations

RNG	nanorand type	Output Size	Cryptographically Secure	Speed1	Notes	Original Implementation
wyrand	nanorand::WyRand, nanorand::tls::TlsWyRand	64 bits (u64)	🚫	10.09 GB/s		https://github.com/lemire/testingRNG/blob/master/source/wyrand.h
Pcg64	nanorand::Pcg64	64 bits (u64)	🚫	2.3 GB/s		https://github.com/rkern/pcg64
ChaCha	nanorand::ChaCha	512 bits ([u32; 16])	✅	150 MB/s (ChaCha8), 70 MB/s (ChaCha20)	Only works in Rust 1.47 or above	https://cr.yp.to/chacha.html

^{1. Speed benchmarked on an Intel Core i7 8086k processor running at 5.1 GHz}

Entropy Sources

Listed in order of priority

• If the getrandom feature is enabled, then getrandom::getrandom will be called.
• If the rdseed feature is enabled, and is running on an x86(-64) system with the RDSEED instruction, then we will attempt to source as much entropy as possible via our rdseed_entropy function
• Linux and Android will attempt to use the getrandom syscall.
• macOS and iOS (Darwin-based systems) will use Security.framework's SecRandomCopyBytes.
• Windows
  • If we're targeting UWP, then the BCryptGenRandom is used with system-preferred RNG (BCRYPT_USE_SYSTEM_PREFERRED_RNG).
  • Otherwise, we'll use RtlGenRandom.
• If all else fails, and the std feature is enabled, we'll resort to pulling bytes from the current system unix time (entropy::emergency_system_time_entropy), and screwing with them via XOR and endianness operations.

Feature Flags

• std (default) - Enables Rust std lib features, such as seeding from OS entropy sources.
• tls (default) - Enables a thread-local WyRand RNG (see below). Requires tls to be enabled.
• wyrand (default) - Enable the wyrand RNG.
• pcg64 (default) - Enable the Pcg64 RNG.
• chacha - Enable the ChaCha RNG. Requires Rust 1.47 or later.
• rdseed - On x86/x86_64 platforms, the rdseed intrinsic will be used when OS entropy isn't available.
• zeroize - Implement the Zeroize trait for all RNGs.
• getrandom - Use the getrandom crate as an entropy source. Works on most systems, optional due to the fact that it brings in more dependencies.

Re-exports

pub use gen::*;

pub use rand::*;

pub use tls::tls_rng;

Modules

crypto	Implementation of cryptography, for CSPRNGs.
entropy	Sources for obtaining entropy.
gen	Traits for generating types from an RNG.
rand	RNG algorithms.
tls	Provides a thread-local WyRand RNG.