* How can I contact the OpenSSL developers?
* Where can I get a compiled version of OpenSSL?
* Why aren't tools like 'autoconf' and 'libtool' used?
+* What is an 'engine' version?
[LEGAL] Legal questions
[USER] Questions on using the OpenSSL applications
* Why do I get a "PRNG not seeded" error message?
+* Why do I get an "unable to write 'random state'" error message?
* How do I create certificates or certificate requests?
* Why can't I create certificate requests?
* Why does <SSL program> fail with a certificate verify error?
* How can I remove the passphrase on a private key?
* Why can't I use OpenSSL certificates with SSL client authentication?
* Why does my browser give a warning about a mismatched hostname?
+* How do I install a CA certificate into a browser?
+* Why is OpenSSL x509 DN output not conformant to RFC2253?
[BUILD] Questions about building and testing OpenSSL
* Why does the linker complain about undefined symbols?
* Why does the OpenSSL test fail with "bc: command not found"?
* Why does the OpenSSL test fail with "bc: 1 no implemented"?
-* Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail on Alpha True64 Unix?
+* Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail on Alpha Tru64 Unix?
* Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail with "ar: command not found"?
* Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail on Win32 with VC++?
* Which is the current version of OpenSSL?
The current version is available from <URL: http://www.openssl.org>.
-OpenSSL 0.9.6a was released on April 5th, 2001.
+OpenSSL 0.9.6d was released on May 9, 2002.
In addition to the current stable release, you can also access daily
snapshots of the OpenSSL development version at <URL:
autoconf will probably be used in future OpenSSL versions. If it was
less Unix-centric, it might have been used much earlier.
+* 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 (not yet released) the changes were merged into the main
+development line, so that the special release is no longer necessary.
[LEGAL] =======================================================================
their software on operating systems that don't normally include OpenSSL.
If you develop open source software that uses OpenSSL, you may find it
-useful to choose an other license than the GPL, or state explicitely that
+useful to choose an other license than the GPL, or state explicitly that
"This program is released under the GPL with the additional exemption that
compiling, linking, and/or using OpenSSL is allowed." If you are using
GPL software developed by others, you may want to ask the copyright holder
device" that serves this purpose. On other systems, applications have
to call the RAND_add() or RAND_seed() function with appropriate data
before generating keys or performing public key encryption.
+(These functions initialize the pseudo-random number generator, PRNG.)
Some broken applications do not do this. As of version 0.9.5, the
OpenSSL functions that need randomness report an error if the random
for an EGD socket at /var/run/egd-pool, /dev/egd-pool, /etc/egd-pool and
/etc/entropy.
-Most components of the openssl command line tool try to use the
-file $HOME/.rnd (or $RANDFILE, if this environment variable is set)
-for seeding the PRNG. If this file does not exist or is too short,
-the "PRNG not seeded" error message may occur.
+Most components of the openssl command line utility automatically try
+to seed the random number generator from a file. The name of the
+default seeding file is determined as follows: If environment variable
+RANDFILE is set, then it names the seeding file. Otherwise if
+environment variable HOME is set, then the seeding file is $HOME/.rnd.
+If neither RANDFILE nor HOME is set, versions up to OpenSSL 0.9.6 will
+use file .rnd in the current directory while OpenSSL 0.9.6a uses no
+default seeding file at all. OpenSSL 0.9.6b and later will behave
+similarly to 0.9.6a, but will use a default of "C:\" for HOME on
+Windows systems if the environment variable has not been set.
+
+If the default seeding file does not exist or is too short, the "PRNG
+not seeded" error message may occur.
+
+The openssl command line utility will write back a new state to the
+default seeding file (and create this file if necessary) unless
+there was no sufficient seeding.
+
Pointing $RANDFILE to an Entropy Gathering Daemon socket does not work.
Use the "-rand" option of the OpenSSL command line tools instead.
The $RANDFILE environment variable and $HOME/.rnd are only used by the
device, which may have some effects on OpenSSL.
+* Why do I get an "unable to write 'random state'" error message?
+
+
+Sometimes the openssl command line utility does not abort with
+a "PRNG not seeded" error message, but complains that it is
+"unable to write 'random state'". This message refers to the
+default seeding file (see previous answer). A possible reason
+is that no default filename is known because neither RANDFILE
+nor HOME is set. (Versions up to 0.9.6 used file ".rnd" in the
+current directory in this case, but this has changed with 0.9.6a.)
+
+
* How do I create certificates or certificate requests?
Check out the CA.pl(1) manual page. This provides a simple wrapper round
reject.
The solution is to add the relevant CA certificate to your servers "trusted
-CA list". How you do this depends on the server sofware in uses. You can
+CA list". How you do this depends on the server software in uses. You can
print out the servers list of acceptable CAs using the OpenSSL s_client tool:
openssl s_client -connect www.some.host:443 -prexit
(CN) field of the certificate. If it does not then you get a warning.
+* How do I install a CA certificate into a browser?
+
+The usual way is to send the DER encoded certificate to the browser as
+MIME type application/x-x509-ca-cert, for example by clicking on an appropriate
+link. On MSIE certain extensions such as .der or .cacert may also work, or you
+can import the certificate using the certificate import wizard.
+
+You can convert a certificate to DER form using the command:
+
+openssl x509 -in ca.pem -outform DER -out ca.der
+
+Occasionally someone suggests using a command such as:
+
+openssl pkcs12 -export -out cacert.p12 -in cacert.pem -inkey cakey.pem
+
+DO NOT DO THIS! This command will give away your CAs private key and
+reduces its security to zero: allowing anyone to forge certificates in
+whatever name they choose.
+
+* Why is OpenSSL x509 DN output not conformant to RFC2253?
+
+The ways to print out the oneline format of the DN (Distinguished Name) have
+been extended in version 0.9.7 of OpenSSL. Using the new X509_NAME_print_ex()
+interface, the "-nameopt" option could be introduded. See the manual
+page of the "openssl x509" commandline tool for details. The old behaviour
+has however been left as default for the sake of compatibility.
+
[BUILD] =======================================================================
* Why does the linker complain about undefined symbols?
for download instructions) can be safely used, for example.
-* Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail on Alpha True64 Unix?
+* Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail on Alpha Tru64 Unix?
-On some Alpha installations running True64 Unix and Compaq C, the compilation
+On some Alpha installations running Tru64 Unix and Compaq C, the compilation
of crypto/sha/sha_dgst.c fails with the message 'Fatal: Insufficient virtual
memory to continue compilation.' As far as the tests have shown, this may be
a compiler bug. What happens is that it eats up a lot of resident memory
* I've compiled a program under Windows and it crashes: why?
-This is usually because you've missed the comment in INSTALL.W32. You
-must link with the multithreaded DLL version of the VC++ runtime library
-otherwise the conflict will cause a program to crash: typically on the
-first BIO related read or write operation.
+This is usually because you've missed the comment in INSTALL.W32.
+Your application must link against the same version of the Win32
+C-Runtime against which your openssl libraries were linked. The
+default version for OpenSSL is /MD - "Multithreaded DLL".
+
+If you are using Microsoft Visual C++'s IDE (Visual Studio), in
+many cases, your new project most likely defaulted to "Debug
+Singlethreaded" - /ML. This is NOT interchangeable with /MD and your
+program will crash, typically on the first BIO related read or write
+operation.
+
+For each of the six possible link stage configurations within Win32,
+your application must link against the same by which OpenSSL was
+built. If you are using MS Visual C++ (Studio) this can be changed
+by:
+
+1. Select Settings... from the Project Menu.
+2. Select the C/C++ Tab.
+3. Select "Code Generation from the "Category" drop down list box
+4. Select the Appropriate library (see table below) from the "Use
+ run-time library" drop down list box. Perform this step for both
+ your debug and release versions of your application (look at the
+ top left of the settings panel to change between the two)
+
+ Single Threaded /ML - MS VC++ often defaults to
+ this for the release
+ version of a new project.
+ Debug Single Threaded /MLd - MS VC++ often defaults to
+ this for the debug version
+ of a new project.
+ Multithreaded /MT
+ Debug Multithreaded /MTd
+ Multithreaded DLL /MD - OpenSSL defaults to this.
+ Debug Multithreaded DLL /MDd
+
+Note that debug and release libraries are NOT interchangeable. If you
+built OpenSSL with /MD your application must use /MD and cannot use /MDd.
* How do I read or write a DER encoded buffer using the ASN1 functions?
* Why doesn't my server application receive a client certificate?
Due to the TLS protocol definition, a client will only send a certificate,
-if explicitely asked by the server. Use the SSL_VERIFY_PEER flag of the
+if explicitly asked by the server. Use the SSL_VERIFY_PEER flag of the
SSL_CTX_set_verify() function to enable the use of client certificates.
projects / openssl.git / blobdiff