Incorrect random number generation in Tali

[Eric Lance]

Binary package hint: gnome-games

The function for generating the dice rolls does a simple modulus calculation, as shown below:

int
RollDie (void)
{
  return ((rand () % 6) + 1);
}

However, this isn't really a good way to generate a random number. The low order bits aren't very 'random' in a linear congruential generator and if RAND_MAX doesn't divide evenly into 6 the distribution won't even be uniform.

Another method would be:

int
RollDie (void)
{
  double r = rand() * (1.0 / RAND_MAX);
  return (int)floor(r *6.0) + 1;
}

This might also fix issues mentioned in bug #164684.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

This bug is an upstream one and it would be quite helpful if somebody experiencing it could send the bug the to the people writing the software. You can learn more about how to do this for various upstreams at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME . Thanks in advance!

[Robert Roth (evfool)]

Thank you for your bug report. This bug has been reported to the developers of the software. You can track it and make comments at: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=621182

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

thanks for sent it upstream.

[Martin Mai (mrkanister-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

This should be fixed in Ubuntu 10.10 now. Thanks for reporting.