* Why aren't tools like 'autoconf' and 'libtool' used?
* What is an 'engine' version?
* How do I check the authenticity of the OpenSSL distribution?
+* How does the versioning scheme work?
[LEGAL] Legal questions
* 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?
+* Some secure servers 'hang' with OpenSSL 1.0.1, is this a bug?
[BUILD] Questions about building and testing OpenSSL
* Which is the current version of OpenSSL?
The current version is available from <URL: http://www.openssl.org>.
-OpenSSL 1.0.0f was released on Jan 4th, 2012.
+OpenSSL 1.0.1e was released on Feb 11, 2013.
In addition to the current stable release, you can also access daily
snapshots of the OpenSSL development version at <URL:
-ftp://ftp.openssl.org/snapshot/>, or get it by anonymous CVS access.
+ftp://ftp.openssl.org/snapshot/>, or get it by anonymous Git access.
* Where is the documentation?
<URL: http://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.
+that came with the version of OpenSSL you are using. The pod format
+documentation is included in each OpenSSL distribution under the docs
+directory.
For information on parts of libcrypto that are not yet documented, you
might want to read Ariel Glenn's documentation on SSLeay 0.9, OpenSSL's
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.
+
+
[LEGAL] =======================================================================
* Do I need patent licenses to use OpenSSL?
-The patents section of the README file lists patents that may apply to
-you if you want to use OpenSSL. For information on intellectual
-property rights, please consult a lawyer. The OpenSSL team does not
-offer legal advice.
+For information on intellectual property rights, please consult a lawyer.
+The OpenSSL team does not offer legal advice.
You can configure OpenSSL so as not to use IDEA, MDC2 and RC5 by using
./config no-idea no-mdc2 no-rc5
Check out the CA.pl(1) manual page. This provides a simple wrapper round
the 'req', 'verify', 'ca' and 'pkcs12' utilities. For finer control check
out the manual pages for the individual utilities and the certificate
-extensions documentation (currently in doc/openssl.txt).
+extensions documentation (in ca(1), req(1), x509v3_config(5) )
* Why can't I create certificate requests?
<URL: http://www.mail-archive.com/modssl-users@modssl.org/msg16980.html>
+* Some secure servers 'hang' with OpenSSL 1.0.1, is this a bug?
+
+OpenSSL 1.0.1 is the first release to support TLS 1.2, among other things,
+this increases the size of the default ClientHello message to more than
+255 bytes in length. Some software cannot handle this and hangs. For more
+details and workarounds see:
+
+ <URL: http://rt.openssl.org/Ticket/Display.html?user=guest&pass=guest&id=2771>
+
+
[BUILD] =======================================================================
* Why does the linker complain about undefined symbols?
* What is special about OpenSSL on Redhat?
Red Hat Linux (release 7.0 and later) include a preinstalled limited
-version of OpenSSL. For patent reasons, support for IDEA, RC5 and MDC2
-is disabled in this version. The same may apply to other Linux distributions.
+version of OpenSSL. Red Hat has chosen to disable support for IDEA, RC5 and
+MDC2 in this version. The same may apply to other Linux distributions.
Users may therefore wish to install more or all of the features left out.
To do this you MUST ensure that you do not overwrite the openssl that is in
A possible way around this is to persuade Red Hat to produce a non-US
version of Red Hat Linux.
-FYI: Patent numbers and expiry dates of US patents:
-MDC-2: 4,908,861 13/03/2007
-IDEA: 5,214,703 25/05/2010
-RC5: 5,724,428 03/03/2015
-
* Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail on MacOS X?
If the test program in question fails withs SIGILL, Illegal Instruction
exception, then you more than likely to run SSE2-capable CPU, such as
Intel P4, under control of kernel which does not support SSE2
-instruction extentions. See accompanying INSTALL file and
+instruction extensions. See accompanying INSTALL file and
OPENSSL_ia32cap(3) documentation page for further information.
* Why does compiler fail to compile sha512.c?
to identify one, drop optimization level, e.g. by editing CFLAG line in
top-level Makefile, recompile and re-run the test.
+
* I think I've found a bug, what should I do?
If you are a new user then it is quite likely you haven't found a bug and
unsure whether it is a bug or not submit a query to the openssl-users mailing
list.
+If you think you have found a bug based on the output of static analysis tools
+then please manually check the issue is genuine. Such tools can produce a
+LOT of false positives.
+
* I'm SURE I've found a bug, how do I report it?
If you think your bug has security implications then please send it to
openssl-security@openssl.org if you don't get a prompt reply at least
acknowledging receipt then resend or mail it directly to one of the
-more active team members (e.g. Steve).
+more active team members (e.g. Steve). If you wish to use PGP to send
+in a report please use one or more of the keys of the team members listed
+at <URL: http://www.openssl.org/about/>
[PROG] ========================================================================
p = buf;
p7 = d2i_PKCS7(NULL, &p, len);
-At this point p7 contains a valid PKCS7 structure of NULL if an error
+At this point p7 contains a valid PKCS7 structure or NULL if an error
occurred. If an error occurred ERR_print_errors(bio) should give more
information.
and attempts to free the buffer will have unpredictable results
because it no longer points to the same address.
+Memory allocation and encoding can also be combined in a single
+operation by the ASN1 routines:
+
+ unsigned char *buf = NULL; /* mandatory */
+ int len;
+ len = i2d_PKCS7(p7, &buf);
+ if (len < 0)
+ /* Error */
+ /* Do some things with 'buf' */
+ /* Finished with buf: free it */
+ OPENSSL_free(buf);
+
+In this special case the "buf" parameter is *not* incremented, it points
+to the start of the encoding.
+
* OpenSSL uses DER but I need BER format: does OpenSSL support BER?
projects / openssl.git / blobdiff