comments

.github/actions/rng/action.yml

@@ -2,11 +2,14 @@ name: "RNG"
 description: "Generate random bytes using /dev/urandom. WARNING: only use for non-cryptographic purposes (the results will show in logs)."
 inputs:
   length:
-    description: "Length to generate (in bytes)."
-    required: true
+    description: "Number of raw random bytes to generate."
+    default: 16
+    required: false
 outputs:
   random:
-    description: "The output of the RNG (hex-encoded)."
+    description: >
+      The output of the RNG encoded in hexadecimal.
+      Note: Due to the encoding, the length of the string will be twice as long as the input length request by the user.
     value: "${{ steps.prng.outputs.result }}"
 
 runs:
@@ -19,7 +22,10 @@ runs:
       run: |
         set -euo pipefail
 
-        value=$(head -c"$LENGTH" /dev/urandom | xxd -p)
+        # Note: if we need to support different encoding, we can use
+        # `head -c"$LENGTH" /dev/urandom | xxd ...` instead.
+        # -l: the number of bytes
+        # -c: the number of bytes displayed per column
+        value=$(xxd -p -l "$LENGTH" -c "$LENGTH" /dev/urandom)
         echo "::set-output name=result::$value"
 
-