Miscellaneous * Which is the current version of OpenSSL? The current version is available from @@@https://www.openssl.org@@@. In addition to the current stable release, you can also access daily snapshots of the OpenSSL development version at @@@https://www.openssl.org/source/snapshot/@@@, or get it by anonymous Git access. * Where is the documentation? OpenSSL is a library that provides cryptographic functionality to applications such as secure web servers. Be sure to read the documentation of the application you want to use. The INSTALL file explains how to install this library. OpenSSL includes a command line utility that can be used to perform a variety of cryptographic functions. It is described in the openssl(1) manpage. Documentation for developers is currently being written. Many manual pages are available; overviews of libcrypto and libssl are given in the crypto(7) and ssl(7) manpages. The OpenSSL manpages are installed in /usr/local/ssl/man/ (or a different directory if you specified one as described in INSTALL). In addition, you can read the most current versions at @@@https://www.openssl.org/docs/@@@. Note that the online documents refer to the very latest development versions of OpenSSL and may include features not present in released versions. If in doubt refer to the documentation that came with the version of OpenSSL you are using. The pod format documentation is included in each OpenSSL distribution under the docs directory. * How can I contact the OpenSSL developers? The README file describes how to submit bug reports and patches to OpenSSL. Information on the OpenSSL mailing lists is available from @@@https://www.openssl.org/community/mailinglists.html@@@. * Where can I get a compiled version of OpenSSL? You can finder pointers to binary distributions in @@@https://www.openssl.org/community/binaries.html@@@ . Some applications that use OpenSSL are distributed in binary form. When using such an application, you don't need to install OpenSSL yourself; the application will include the required parts (e.g. DLLs). If you want to build OpenSSL on a Windows system and you don't have a C compiler, read the "Mingw32" section of INSTALL.W32 for information on how to obtain and install the free GNU C compiler. A number of Linux and *BSD distributions include OpenSSL. * Why aren't tools like 'autoconf' and 'libtool' or 'cmake' used? A number of these tools are great and wonderful, but are usually centered around one or a few platforms. 'autoconf' and 'libtool' are Unix centric. 'cmake' is a bit more widely spread, but not enough to cover the platforms we support. For OpenSSL 1.1, we decided to base our build system on perl, information files and build file (Makefile) templates, thereby covering all the systems we support. Perl was the base language of choice because we already use it in diverse scripts, and it's one of the most widely spread scripting languages. * What is an 'engine' version? With version 0.9.6 OpenSSL was extended to interface to external crypto hardware. This was realized in a special release '0.9.6-engine'. With version 0.9.7 the changes were merged into the main development line, so that the special release is no longer necessary. * How do I check the authenticity of the OpenSSL distribution? We provide PGP signatures and a variety of digests on each release. For example, one of the following might work on your system: 
    sha1sum TARBALL | awk '{print $1;}' | cmp - TARBALL.sha1
    sha256sum TARBALL | awk '{print $1;}' | cmp - TARBALL.sha256
You can check authenticity using pgp or gpg. You need the OpenSSL OMC member public key used to sign it (download it from a key server or see a list of keys at @@@https://www.openssl.org/community/omc.html@@@). Then just do: 
    pgp TARBALL.asc
* How does the versioning scheme work? After the release of OpenSSL 1.0.0 the versioning scheme changed. Letter releases (e.g. 1.0.1a) can only contain bug and security fixes and no new features. Minor releases change the last number (e.g. 1.0.2) and can contain new features that retain binary compatibility. Changes to the middle number are considered major releases and neither source nor binary compatibility is guaranteed. Therefore the answer to the common question "when will feature X be backported to OpenSSL 1.0.0/0.9.8?" is "never" but it could appear in the next minor release. * What happens when the letter release reaches z? It was decided after the release of OpenSSL 0.9.8y the next version should be 0.9.8za then 0.9.8zb and so on. The current version is available from @@@https://www.openssl.org@@@. In addition to the current stable release, you can also access daily snapshots of the OpenSSL development version at @@@https://www.openssl.org/source/snapshot/@@@, or get it by anonymous Git access. * Where is the documentation? OpenSSL is a library that provides cryptographic functionality to applications such as secure web servers. Be sure to read the documentation of the application you want to use. The INSTALL file explains how to install this library. OpenSSL includes a command line utility that can be used to perform a variety of cryptographic functions. It is described in the openssl(1) manpage. Documentation for developers is currently being written. Many manual pages are available; overviews over libcrypto and libssl are given in the crypto(7) and ssl(7) manpages. The OpenSSL manpages are installed in /usr/local/ssl/man/ (or a different directory if you specified one as described in INSTALL). In addition, you can read the most current versions at @@@https://www.openssl.org/docs/@@@. Note that the online documents refer to the very latest development versions of OpenSSL and may include features not present in released versions. If in doubt refer to the documentation that came with the version of OpenSSL you are using. The pod format documentation is included in each OpenSSL distribution under the docs directory. * How can I contact the OpenSSL developers? The README file describes how to submit bug reports and patches to OpenSSL. Information on the OpenSSL mailing lists is available from @@@https://www.openssl.org/community/mailinglists.html@@@. * Where can I get a compiled version of OpenSSL? You can finder pointers to binary distributions in @@@https://www.openssl.org/community/binaries.html@@@. Some applications that use OpenSSL are distributed in binary form. When using such an application, you don't need to install OpenSSL yourself; the application will include the required parts (e.g. DLLs). If you want to build OpenSSL on a Windows system and you don't have a C compiler, read the "Mingw32" section of INSTALL.W32 for information on how to obtain and install the free GNU C compiler. A number of Linux and *BSD distributions include OpenSSL. * Why aren't tools like 'autoconf' and 'libtool' or 'cmake' used? A number of these tools are great and wonderful, but are usually centered around one or a few platforms. 'autoconf' and 'libtool' are Unix centric. 'cmake' is a bit more widely spread, but not enough to cover the platforms we support. For OpenSSL 1.1, we decided to base our build system on perl, information files and build file (Makefile) templates, thereby covering all the systems we support. Perl was the base language of choice because we already use it in diverse scripts, and it's one of the most widely spread scripting languages. * What is an 'engine' version? With version 0.9.6 OpenSSL was extended to interface to external crypto hardware. This was realized in a special release '0.9.6-engine'. With version 0.9.7 the changes were merged into the main development line, so that the special release is no longer necessary. * How do I check the authenticity of the OpenSSL distribution? We provide PGP signatures and a variety of digests on each release. For example, one of the following might work on your system: 
    sha1sum TARBALL | awk '{print $1;}' | cmp - TARBALL.sha1
    sha256sum TARBALL | awk '{print $1;}' | cmp - TARBALL.sha256
You can check authenticity using pgp or gpg. You need the OpenSSL OMC member public key used to sign it (download it from a key server or see a list of keys at @@@https://www.openssl.org/community/omc.html@@@). Then just do: 
    pgp TARBALL.asc
* How does the versioning scheme work? After the release of OpenSSL 1.0.0 the versioning scheme changed. Letter releases (e.g. 1.0.1a) can only contain bug and security fixes and no new features. Minor releases change the last number (e.g. 1.0.2) and can contain new features that retain binary compatibility. Changes to the middle number are considered major releases and neither source nor binary compatibility is guaranteed. Therefore the answer to the common question "when will feature X be backported to OpenSSL 1.0.0/0.9.8?" is "never" but it could appear in the next minor release. * What happens when the letter release reaches z? It was decided after the release of OpenSSL 0.9.8y the next version should be 0.9.8za then 0.9.8zb and so on.