noop

Overview ¶

Package noop is the random.Generator that has nothing to draw from: every method returns random.ErrNoRandomness and no value.

Read that against what the real generator is for. This interface backs two-factor secrets, salts, session and API tokens, and one-time codes, so the one thing this generator must not do is answer an empty value with a nil error — that is indistinguishable at the call site from a successful draw, and a system wired with it would issue the same empty token to every caller while comparing two of those tokens succeeded. Failing every call instead keeps it from being used by accident: whatever was going to hold the token gets an error where it expected a secret.

It exists for tests that need a Generator to satisfy a signature and never read what it produced. There is no random/config, so nothing selects it from configuration; a caller who wants it names it in code, which is the only place a decision like this one should be visible.