-Reset the B<ssl> to allow another connection. All settings (method, ciphers,
-BIOs) are kept. A completely negotiated SSL_SESSION is not freed but left
-untouched for the underlying SSL_CTX.
+Reset B<ssl> to allow another connection. All settings (method, ciphers,
+BIOs) are kept.
+
+=head1 NOTES
+
+SSL_clear is used to prepare an SSL object for a new connection. While all
+settings are kept, a side effect is the handling of the current SSL session.
+If a session is still B<open>, it is considered bad and will be removed
+from the session cache, as required by RFC2246. A session is considered open,
+if L<SSL_shutdown(3)|SSL_shutdown(3)> was not called for the connection
+or at least L<SSL_set_shutdown(3)|SSL_set_shutdown(3)> was used to
+set the SSL_SENT_SHUTDOWN state.