Release OpenSSL 0.9.6a [engine]

 OpenSSL CHANGES

 _______________

 Changes between 0.9.6 and 0.9.6a  [xx XXX 2001]

 Changes between 0.9.6 and 0.9.6a  [5 Apr 2001]

  *) Fix a couple of memory leaks in PKCS7_dataDecode()

     [Steve Henson, reported by Heyun Zheng <hzheng@atdsprint.com>]

OpenSSL  -  Frequently Asked Questions

--------------------------------------

[MISC] Miscellaneous questions

* Which is the current version of OpenSSL?

* Where is the documentation?

* 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?

[LEGAL] Legal questions

* Do I need patent licenses to use OpenSSL?

* Is OpenSSL thread-safe?

* Can I use OpenSSL with GPL software? 

[USER] Questions on using the OpenSSL applications

* Why do I get a "PRNG not seeded" error message?

* Why does the linker complain about undefined symbols?

* Where can I get a compiled version of OpenSSL?

* I've compiled a program under Windows and it crashes: why?

* How do I read or write a DER encoded buffer using the ASN1 functions?

* I've tried using <M_some_evil_pkcs12_macro> and I get errors why?

* I've called <some function> and it fails, why?

* I just get a load of numbers for the error output, what do they mean?

* Why do I get errors about unknown algorithms?

* 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 create DSA certificates?

* Why can't I make an SSL connection using a DSA certificate?

* How can I remove the passphrase on a private key?

* Why can't the OpenSSH configure script detect OpenSSL?

* Why can't I use OpenSSL certificates with SSL client authentication?

* Why does my browser give a warning about a mismatched hostname?

[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 with "ar: command not found"?

* Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail on Win32 with VC++?

[PROG] Questions about programming with OpenSSL

* Is OpenSSL thread-safe?

* I've compiled a program under Windows and it crashes: why?

* How do I read or write a DER encoded buffer using the ASN1 functions?

* I've tried using <M_some_evil_pkcs12_macro> and I get errors why?

* I've called <some function> and it fails, why?

* I just get a load of numbers for the error output, what do they mean?

* Why do I get errors about unknown algorithms?

* Why can't the OpenSSH configure script detect OpenSSL?

* Can I use OpenSSL's SSL library with non-blocking I/O?

===============================================================================

[MISC] ========================================================================

* Which is the current version of OpenSSL?

The current version is available from <URL: http://www.openssl.org>.

OpenSSL 0.9.6 was released on September 24th, 2000.

OpenSSL 0.9.6a was released on April 5th, 2001.

In addition to the current stable release, you can also access daily

snapshots of the OpenSSL development version at <URL:

<URL: http://www.openssl.org>.

* Where can I get a compiled version of OpenSSL?

Some applications that use OpenSSL are distributed in binary form.

When using such an application, you don't need to install OpenSSL

yourself; the application will include the required parts (e.g. DLLs).

If you want to install OpenSSL on a Windows system and you don't have

a C compiler, read the "Mingw32" section of INSTALL.W32 for information

on how to obtain and install the free GNU C compiler.

A number of Linux and *BSD distributions include OpenSSL.

* Why aren't tools like 'autoconf' and 'libtool' used?

autoconf will probably be used in future OpenSSL versions. If it was

less Unix-centric, it might have been used much earlier.

[LEGAL] =======================================================================

* Do I need patent licenses to use OpenSSL?

The patents section of the README file lists patents that may apply to

 ./config no-rc5 no-idea

* Is OpenSSL thread-safe?

* Can I use OpenSSL with GPL software?

Yes (with limitations: an SSL connection may not concurrently be used

by multiple threads).  On Windows and many Unix systems, OpenSSL

automatically uses the multi-threaded versions of the standard

libraries.  If your platform is not one of these, consult the INSTALL

file.

On many systems including the major Linux and BSD distributions, yes (the

GPL does not place restrictions on using libraries that are part of the

normal operating system distribution).

Multi-threaded applications must provide two callback functions to

OpenSSL.  This is described in the threads(3) manpage.

On other systems, the situation is less clear. Some GPL software copyright

holders claim that you infringe on their rights if you use OpenSSL with

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

"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

for permission to use their software with OpenSSL.

[USER] ========================================================================

* Why do I get a "PRNG not seeded" error message?

Cryptographic software needs a source of unpredictable data to work

device, which may have some effects on OpenSSL.

* How do I create certificates or certificate requests?

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).

* Why can't I create certificate requests?

You typically get the error:

	unable to find 'distinguished_name' in config

	problems making Certificate Request

This is because it can't find the configuration file. Check out the

DIAGNOSTICS section of req(1) for more information.

* Why does <SSL program> fail with a certificate verify error?

This problem is usually indicated by log messages saying something like

"unable to get local issuer certificate" or "self signed certificate".

When a certificate is verified its root CA must be "trusted" by OpenSSL

this typically means that the CA certificate must be placed in a directory

or file and the relevant program configured to read it. The OpenSSL program

'verify' behaves in a similar way and issues similar error messages: check

the verify(1) program manual page for more information.

* Why can I only use weak ciphers when I connect to a server using OpenSSL?

This is almost certainly because you are using an old "export grade" browser

which only supports weak encryption. Upgrade your browser to support 128 bit

ciphers.

* How can I create DSA certificates?

Check the CA.pl(1) manual page for a DSA certificate example.

* Why can't I make an SSL connection to a server using a DSA certificate?

Typically you'll see a message saying there are no shared ciphers when

the same setup works fine with an RSA certificate. There are two possible

causes. The client may not support connections to DSA servers most web

browsers (including Netscape and MSIE) only support connections to servers

supporting RSA cipher suites. The other cause is that a set of DH parameters

has not been supplied to the server. DH parameters can be created with the

dhparam(1) command and loaded using the SSL_CTX_set_tmp_dh() for example:

check the source to s_server in apps/s_server.c for an example.

* How can I remove the passphrase on a private key?

Firstly you should be really *really* sure you want to do this. Leaving

a private key unencrypted is a major security risk. If you decide that

you do have to do this check the EXAMPLES sections of the rsa(1) and

dsa(1) manual pages.

* Why can't I use OpenSSL certificates with SSL client authentication?

What will typically happen is that when a server requests authentication

it will either not include your certificate or tell you that you have

no client certificates (Netscape) or present you with an empty list box

(MSIE). The reason for this is that when a server requests a client

certificate it includes a list of CAs names which it will accept. Browsers

will only let you select certificates from the list on the grounds that

there is little point presenting a certificate which the server will

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

print out the servers list of acceptable CAs using the OpenSSL s_client tool:

openssl s_client -connect www.some.host:443 -prexit

If your server only requests certificates on certain URLs then you may need

to manually issue an HTTP GET command to get the list when s_client connects:

GET /some/page/needing/a/certificate.html

If your CA does not appear in the list then this confirms the problem.

* Why does my browser give a warning about a mismatched hostname?

Browsers expect the server's hostname to match the value in the commonName

(CN) field of the certificate. If it does not then you get a warning.

[BUILD] =======================================================================

* Why does the linker complain about undefined symbols?

Maybe the compilation was interrupted, and make doesn't notice that

If the problem persists, please submit a bug report.

* Where can I get a compiled version of OpenSSL?

* Why does the OpenSSL test fail with "bc: command not found"?

Some applications that use OpenSSL are distributed in binary form.

When using such an application, you don't need to install OpenSSL

yourself; the application will include the required parts (e.g. DLLs).

You didn't install "bc", the Unix calculator.  If you want to run the

tests, get GNU bc from ftp://ftp.gnu.org or from your OS distributor.

If you want to install OpenSSL on a Windows system and you don't have

a C compiler, read the "Mingw32" section of INSTALL.W32 for information

on how to obtain and install the free GNU C compiler.

A number of Linux and *BSD distributions include OpenSSL.

* Why does the OpenSSL test fail with "bc: 1 no implemented"?

On some SCO installations or versions, bc has a bug that gets triggered

when you run the test suite (using "make test").  The message returned is

"bc: 1 not implemented".

The best way to deal with this is to find another implementation of bc

and compile/install it.  GNU bc (see http://www.gnu.org/software/software.html

for download instructions) can be safely used, for example.

* Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail on Alpha True64 Unix?

On some Alpha installations running True64 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

to build something, probably a table.  The problem is clearly in the

optimization code, because if one eliminates optimization completely (-O0),

the compilation goes through (and the compiler consumes about 2MB of resident

memory instead of 240MB or whatever one's limit is currently).

There are three options to solve this problem:

1. set your current data segment size soft limit higher.  Experience shows

that about 241000 kbytes seems to be enough on an AlphaServer DS10.  You do

this with the command 'ulimit -Sd nnnnnn', where 'nnnnnn' is the number of

kbytes to set the limit to.

2. If you have a hard limit that is lower than what you need and you can't

get it changed, you can compile all of OpenSSL with -O0 as optimization

level.  This is however not a very nice thing to do for those who expect to

get the best result from OpenSSL.  A bit more complicated solution is the

following:

----- snip:start -----

  make DIRS=crypto SDIRS=sha "`grep '^CFLAG=' Makefile.ssl | \

       sed -e 's/ -O[0-9] / -O0 /'`"

  rm `ls crypto/*.o crypto/sha/*.o | grep -v 'sha_dgst\.o'`

  make

----- snip:end -----

This will only compile sha_dgst.c with -O0, the rest with the optimization

level chosen by the configuration process.  When the above is done, do the

test and installation and you're set.

* Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail with "ar: command not found"?

Getting this message is quite usual on Solaris 2, because Sun has hidden

away 'ar' and other development commands in directories that aren't in

$PATH by default.  One of those directories is '/usr/ccs/bin'.  The

quickest way to fix this is to do the following (it assumes you use sh

or any sh-compatible shell):

----- snip:start -----

  PATH=${PATH}:/usr/ccs/bin; export PATH

----- snip:end -----

and then redo the compilation.  What you should really do is make sure

'/usr/ccs/bin' is permanently in your $PATH, for example through your

'.profile' (again, assuming you use a sh-compatible shell).

* Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail on Win32 with VC++?

Sometimes, you may get reports from VC++ command line (cl) that it

can't find standard include files like stdio.h and other weirdnesses.

One possible cause is that the environment isn't correctly set up.

To solve that problem, one should run VCVARS32.BAT which is found in

the 'bin' subdirectory of the VC++ installation directory (somewhere

under 'Program Files').  This needs to be done prior to running NMAKE,

and the changes are only valid for the current DOS session.

[PROG] ========================================================================

* Is OpenSSL thread-safe?

Yes (with limitations: an SSL connection may not concurrently be used

by multiple threads).  On Windows and many Unix systems, OpenSSL

automatically uses the multi-threaded versions of the standard

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.

* I've compiled a program under Windows and it crashes: why?

OpenSSL_add_all_algorithms(). See the manual page for more information.

* How do I create certificates or certificate requests?

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).

* Why can't I create certificate requests?

You typically get the error:

	unable to find 'distinguished_name' in config

	problems making Certificate Request

This is because it can't find the configuration file. Check out the

DIAGNOSTICS section of req(1) for more information.

* Why does <SSL program> fail with a certificate verify error?

This problem is usually indicated by log messages saying something like

"unable to get local issuer certificate" or "self signed certificate".

When a certificate is verified its root CA must be "trusted" by OpenSSL

this typically means that the CA certificate must be placed in a directory

or file and the relevant program configured to read it. The OpenSSL program

'verify' behaves in a similar way and issues similar error messages: check

the verify(1) program manual page for more information.

* Why can I only use weak ciphers when I connect to a server using OpenSSL?

This is almost certainly because you are using an old "export grade" browser

which only supports weak encryption. Upgrade your browser to support 128 bit

ciphers.

* How can I create DSA certificates?

Check the CA.pl(1) manual page for a DSA certificate example.

* Why can't I make an SSL connection to a server using a DSA certificate?

Typically you'll see a message saying there are no shared ciphers when

the same setup works fine with an RSA certificate. There are two possible

causes. The client may not support connections to DSA servers most web

browsers (including Netscape and MSIE) only support connections to servers

supporting RSA cipher suites. The other cause is that a set of DH parameters

has not been supplied to the server. DH parameters can be created with the

dhparam(1) command and loaded using the SSL_CTX_set_tmp_dh() for example:

check the source to s_server in apps/s_server.c for an example.

* How can I remove the passphrase on a private key?

Firstly you should be really *really* sure you want to do this. Leaving

a private key unencrypted is a major security risk. If you decide that

you do have to do this check the EXAMPLES sections of the rsa(1) and

dsa(1) manual pages.

* Why can't the OpenSSH configure script detect OpenSSL?

There is a problem with OpenSSH 1.2.2p1, in that the configure script

----- snip:end -----

* Why does the OpenSSL test fail with "bc: command not found"?

* Can I use OpenSSL's SSL library with non-blocking I/O?

You didn't install "bc", the Unix calculator.  If you want to run the

tests, get GNU bc from ftp://ftp.gnu.org or from your OS distributor.

* Why does the OpenSSL test fail with "bc: 1 no implemented"?

Yes; make sure to read the SSL_get_error(3) manual page!

On some SCO installations or versions, bc has a bug that gets triggered when

you run the test suite (using "make test").  The message returned is "bc:

1 not implemented".  The best way to deal with this is to find another

implementation of bc and compile/install it.  For example, GNU bc (see

http://www.gnu.org/software/software.html for download instructions) can

be safely used.

A pitfall to avoid: Don't assume that SSL_read() will just read from

the underlying transport or that SSL_write() will just write to it --

it is also possible that SSL_write() cannot do any useful work until

there is data to read, or that SSL_read() cannot do anything until it

is possible to send data.  One reason for this is that the peer may

request a new TLS/SSL handshake at any time during the protocol,

requiring a bi-directional message exchange; both SSL_read() and

SSL_write() will try to continue any pending handshake.

* Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail on Alpha True64 Unix?

On some Alpha installations running True64 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

to build something, probably a table.  The problem is clearly in the

optimization code, because if one eliminates optimization completely (-O0),

the compilation goes through (and the compiler consumes about 2MB of resident

memory instead of 240MB or whatever one's limit is currently).

There are three options to solve this problem:

1. set your current data segment size soft limit higher.  Experience shows

that about 241000 kbytes seems to be enough on an AlphaServer DS10.  You do

this with the command 'ulimit -Sd nnnnnn', where 'nnnnnn' is the number of

kbytes to set the limit to.

2. If you have a hard limit that is lower than what you need and you can't

get it changed, you can compile all of OpenSSL with -O0 as optimization

level.  This is however not a very nice thing to do for those who expect to

get the best result from OpenSSL.  A bit more complicated solution is the

following:

----- snip:start -----

  make DIRS=crypto SDIRS=sha "`grep '^CFLAG=' Makefile.ssl | \

       sed -e 's/ -O[0-9] / -O0 /'`"

  rm `ls crypto/*.o crypto/sha/*.o | grep -v 'sha_dgst\.o'`

  make

----- snip:end -----

This will only compile sha_dgst.c with -O0, the rest with the optimization

level chosen by the configuration process.  When the above is done, do the

test and installation and you're set.

* Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail with "ar: command not found"?

Getting this message is quite usual on Solaris 2, because Sun has hidden

away 'ar' and other development commands in directories that aren't in

$PATH by default.  One of those directories is '/usr/ccs/bin'.  The

quickest way to fix this is to do the following (it assumes you use sh

or any sh-compatible shell):

----- snip:start -----

  PATH=${PATH}:/usr/ccs/bin; export PATH

----- snip:end -----

and then redo the compilation.  What you should really do is make sure

'/usr/ccs/bin' is permanently in your $PATH, for example through your

'.profile' (again, assuming you use a sh-compatible shell).

===============================================================================

 OpenSSL 0.9.6a-beta4-dev [engine] XX xxx XXXX

 OpenSSL 0.9.6a [engine] 5 Apr 2001

 Copyright (c) 1998-2000 The OpenSSL Project

 Copyright (c) 1995-1998 Eric A. Young, Tim J. Hudson

  OpenSSL STATUS                           Last modified at

  ______________                           $Date: 2001/03/26 17:09:12 $

  ______________                           $Date: 2001/04/05 17:48:02 $

  DEVELOPMENT STATE

    o  OpenSSL 0.9.6a: Bugfix release -- under development...

                       Beta 1 released on March 13th, 2001

	HP-UX 10.20 (hpux-parisc-cc)		- PASSED [normal+engine]

	HP-UX 10.20 (hpux-parisc-gcc)		- PASSED [normal+engine]

	HP-UX 11.00 32bit (hpux-parisc-gcc)	- FAILED [engine]

		"openssl speed rsa1024 -engine cswift" fails unless

		libswift.sl is renamed to libswift.so.

		[CORRECTED]

	HP MPE/iX				- PASSED [presumed normal]

	Linux 2.2.17 SMP (linux-elf)		- PASSED [normal+engine]

	Windows (VC-WIN32)			- FAILED [presumed normal]

		Missing line in ms/32all.bat:

			perl util\mkfiles.pl >MINFO

		[CORRECTED]

		In randfile.c, line 214, signed and unsigned int are mixed.

		[CORRECTED]

		In s_client.c and s_server.c, RAND_status() needs to get

		declared (#include <openssl/rand.h>)

		[CORRECTED]

	OpenVMS (any version)			- FAILED [normal+engine]

		Missing instructions in building script.

		[CORRECTED]

	AIX 4.3					- FAILED [engine]

		Needs -DDSO_DLFCN and -DHAVE_DLFCN_H to work.

		[CORRECTED] (but will not be automagically configured)

	Irix 6.5.11				- FAILED [presumed normal]

		BN_sqr test fails.

        solaris64-sparcv9-cc (SunOS 5.8)        - PASSED [normal+engine]

	BSDI 4.0.1 (bsdi-elf-gcc)		- FAILED [engine]

		Needs -DDSO_DLFCN, -DHAVE_DLFCN_H and -ldl to work.

		[CORRECTED]

	mingw32 w/ gcc 2.95.2			- PASSED [presumed normal]

                       Beta 2 released on March 21st, 2001

	OpenVMS (tested on VMS 7.2-1 for Alpha)	- PASSED [presumed normal]

        solaris64-sparcv9-cc (SunOS 5.8)        - PASSED [normal]

    o  OpenSSL 0.9.6a: Released on April      5th, 2001

    o  OpenSSL 0.9.6:  Released on September 24th, 2000

    o  OpenSSL 0.9.5a: Released on April      1st, 2000

    o  OpenSSL 0.9.5:  Released on February  28th, 2000