Discussion about Redhat's specialties for the FAQ.

Submitted by: John.Airey@rnib.org.uk
Reviewed by:
PR: 128

diff --git a/FAQ b/FAQ
index fae0b855bf82d847ef64da709422d01909c4fca2..ec7a22242acbe0c1bd648c7f73e6df1ca3f65e02 100644 (file)
--- a/FAQ
+++ b/FAQ
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ OpenSSL  -  Frequently Asked Questions
 * 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++?
 * 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++?

+* What is special about OpenSSL on Redhat?

 
 [PROG] Questions about programming with OpenSSL
 
 
 [PROG] Questions about programming with OpenSSL
 


@@ -463,6 +464,41 @@ under 'Program Files').  This needs to be done prior to running NMAKE,
 and the changes are only valid for the current DOS session.
 
 
 and the changes are only valid for the current DOS session.
 
 

+* What is special about OpenSSL on Redhat?
+
+Red Hat Linux 7.0 and following versions already have a limited version of
+openssl already installed. This may well apply to other Linux distributions
+also. This version does not have support for the IDEA, RC5 and MDC-2
+algorithms as these are patented within the United States. For information
+these patent numbers and expiry dates are:
+
+MDC-2: 4,908,861 13/03/2007
+IDEA:  5,214,703 25/05/2010
+RC5:   5,724,428 03/03/2015
+
+However, Europeans and other non-Americans may wish to install all the
+features.
+
+To do this you MUST ensure that you do not overwrite the openssl that is in
+/usr/bin on your Red Hat machine. Several packages depend on this file,
+including sendmail and ssh. /usr/local/bin is a good alternative choice. The
+libraries that come with Red Hat 7.0 onwards have different names and so are
+not affected. (eg For Red Hat 7.2 they are /lib/libssl.so.0.9.6b and
+/lib/libcrypto.so.0.9.6b with symlinks /lib/libssl.so.2 and
+/lib/libcrypto.so.2 respectively).
+
+Please note that we have been advised by Red Hat attempting to recompile the
+openssl rpm with all the cryptography enabled will not work. All other
+packages depend on the original Red Hat supplied openssl package. It is also
+worth noting that due to the way Red Hat supplies its packages, updates to
+openssl on each distribution never change the package version, only the
+build number. For example, on Red Hat 7.1, the latest openssl package has
+version number 0.9.6 and build number 9 even though it contains all the
+relevant updates in packages up to and including 0.9.6b.
+
+A possible way around this is to persuade Red Hat to produce a non-US
+version of Red Hat Linux.
+

 [PROG] ========================================================================
 
 * Is OpenSSL thread-safe?
 [PROG] ========================================================================
 
 * Is OpenSSL thread-safe?