By the way, if the random function can only generate numbers between 0 and 32767, won't 2 bytes be enough then? The algorithm will perform a modulo calculation anyway, so 4 bytes won't really add anything. Of course, it is much better then only one byte.
That will depend on whether the state stored between calls to the PRNG is only 15-bits, or something larger.
If more state is stored than is enumerated in the result, then the generator should have more points on its sequence than 32768 . In that case then, seeding with more than 15 bits would be worthwhile.
I have not looked at Bash myself, to see what it actually does
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Dave English Senior Software & Systems Engineer
Internet Platform Development, Thus plc
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