Not sure about this one... seems to be needed to make 64 bit release

[openssl.git] / FAQ

diff --git a/FAQ b/FAQ
index f96759b18e2bfc80e9da635d76874a483d5bae7f..4128e6462af461cccea422b3656470f15f622b19 100644 (file)
--- a/FAQ
+++ b/FAQ
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ OpenSSL  -  Frequently Asked Questions
 * Why is OpenSSL x509 DN output not conformant to RFC2253?
 * What is a "128 bit certificate"? Can I create one with OpenSSL?
 * Why does OpenSSL set the authority key identifier extension incorrectly?
+* How can I set up a bundle of commercial root CA certificates?
 
 [BUILD] Questions about building and testing OpenSSL
 
@@ -67,6 +68,8 @@ OpenSSL  -  Frequently Asked Questions
 * Why doesn't my server application receive a client certificate?
 * Why does compilation fail due to an undefined symbol NID_uniqueIdentifier?
 * I think I've detected a memory leak, is this a bug?
+* Why does Valgrind complain about the use of uninitialized data?
+* Why doesn't a memory BIO work when a file does?
 
 ===============================================================================
 
@@ -75,7 +78,7 @@ OpenSSL  -  Frequently Asked Questions
 * Which is the current version of OpenSSL?
 
 The current version is available from <URL: http://www.openssl.org>.
-OpenSSL 0.9.8b was released on May 4th, 2006.
+OpenSSL 0.9.8i was released on Sep 15th, 2008.
 
 In addition to the current stable release, you can also access daily
 snapshots of the OpenSSL development version at <URL:
@@ -445,6 +448,20 @@ did this would be redundant information because it would duplicate the issuer
 name of C.
 
 
+* How can I set up a bundle of commercial root CA certificates?
+
+The OpenSSL software is shipped without any root CA certificate as the
+OpenSSL project does not have any policy on including or excluding
+any specific CA and does not intend to set up such a policy. Deciding
+about which CAs to support is up to application developers or
+administrators.
+
+Other projects do have other policies so you can for example extract the CA
+bundle used by Mozilla and/or modssl as described in this article:
+
+  http://www.mail-archive.com/modssl-users@modssl.org/msg16980.html
+
+
 [BUILD] =======================================================================
 
 * Why does the linker complain about undefined symbols?
@@ -699,8 +716,11 @@ libraries.  If your platform is not one of these, consult the INSTALL
 file.
 
 Multi-threaded applications must provide two callback functions to
-OpenSSL.  This is described in the threads(3) manpage.
-
+OpenSSL by calling CRYPTO_set_locking_callback() and
+CRYPTO_set_id_callback(), for all versions of OpenSSL up to and
+including 0.9.8[abc...]. As of version 0.9.9, CRYPTO_set_id_callback()
+and associated APIs are deprecated by CRYPTO_THREADID_set_callback()
+and friends. This is described in the threads(3) manpage.
 
 * I've compiled a program under Windows and it crashes: why?
 
@@ -841,11 +861,11 @@ code itself (the hex digits after the second colon).
 
 * Why do I get errors about unknown algorithms?
 
-This can happen under several circumstances such as reading in an
-encrypted private key or attempting to decrypt a PKCS#12 file. The cause
-is forgetting to load OpenSSL's table of algorithms with
-OpenSSL_add_all_algorithms(). See the manual page for more information.
-
+The cause is forgetting to load OpenSSL's table of algorithms with
+OpenSSL_add_all_algorithms(). See the manual page for more information. This
+can cause several problems such as being unable to read in an encrypted
+PEM file, unable to decrypt a PKCS#12 file or signature failure when
+verifying certificates.
 
 * Why can't the OpenSSH configure script detect OpenSSL?
 
@@ -913,5 +933,35 @@ thread-safe):
   ERR_free_strings(), EVP_cleanup() and CRYPTO_cleanup_all_ex_data().
 
 
-===============================================================================
+* Why does Valgrind complain about the use of uninitialized data?
+
+When OpenSSL's PRNG routines are called to generate random numbers the supplied
+buffer contents are mixed into the entropy pool: so it technically does not
+matter whether the buffer is initialized at this point or not.  Valgrind (and
+other test tools) will complain about this. When using Valgrind, make sure the
+OpenSSL library has been compiled with the PURIFY macro defined (-DPURIFY)
+to get rid of these warnings.
+
 
+* Why doesn't a memory BIO work when a file does?
+
+This can occur in several cases for example reading an S/MIME email message.
+The reason is that a memory BIO can do one of two things when all the data
+has been read from it.
+
+The default behaviour is to indicate that no more data is available and that
+the call should be retried, this is to allow the application to fill up the BIO
+again if necessary.
+
+Alternatively it can indicate that no more data is available and that EOF has
+been reached.
+
+If a memory BIO is to behave in the same way as a file this second behaviour
+is needed. This must be done by calling:
+
+   BIO_set_mem_eof_return(bio, 0);
+
+See the manual pages for more details.
+
+
+===============================================================================