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+.\" -*- mode: troff; coding: utf-8 -*-
+.\" Automatically generated by Pod::Man 5.01 (Pod::Simple 3.43)
+.\"
+.\" Standard preamble:
+.\" ========================================================================
+.de Sp \" Vertical space (when we can't use .PP)
+.if t .sp .5v
+.if n .sp
+..
+.de Vb \" Begin verbatim text
+.ft CW
+.nf
+.ne \\$1
+..
+.de Ve \" End verbatim text
+.ft R
+.fi
+..
+.\" \*(C` and \*(C' are quotes in nroff, nothing in troff, for use with C<>.
+.ie n \{\
+. ds C` ""
+. ds C' ""
+'br\}
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+. ds C`
+. ds C'
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+.\"
+.\" Escape single quotes in literal strings from groff's Unicode transform.
+.ie \n(.g .ds Aq \(aq
+.el .ds Aq '
+.\"
+.\" If the F register is >0, we'll generate index entries on stderr for
+.\" titles (.TH), headers (.SH), subsections (.SS), items (.Ip), and index
+.\" entries marked with X<> in POD. Of course, you'll have to process the
+.\" output yourself in some meaningful fashion.
+.\"
+.\" Avoid warning from groff about undefined register 'F'.
+.de IX
+..
+.nr rF 0
+.if \n(.g .if rF .nr rF 1
+.if (\n(rF:(\n(.g==0)) \{\
+. if \nF \{\
+. de IX
+. tm Index:\\$1\t\\n%\t"\\$2"
+..
+. if !\nF==2 \{\
+. nr % 0
+. nr F 2
+. \}
+. \}
+.\}
+.rr rF
+.\" ========================================================================
+.\"
+.IX Title "OSSL-GUIDE-LIBRARIES-INTRODUCTION 7ssl"
+.TH OSSL-GUIDE-LIBRARIES-INTRODUCTION 7ssl 2024-01-30 3.2.1 OpenSSL
+.\" For nroff, turn off justification. Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
+.\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
+.if n .ad l
+.nh
+.SH NAME
+ossl\-guide\-libraries\-introduction
+\&\- OpenSSL Guide: An introduction to the OpenSSL libraries
+.SH INTRODUCTION
+.IX Header "INTRODUCTION"
+OpenSSL supplies two libraries that can be used by applications known as
+\&\f(CW\*(C`libcrypto\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`libssl\*(C'\fR.
+.PP
+The \f(CW\*(C`libcrypto\*(C'\fR library provides APIs for general purpose cryptography such as
+encryption, digital signatures, hash functions, etc. It additionally supplies
+supporting APIs for cryptography related standards, e.g. for reading and writing
+digital certificates (also known as X.509 certificates). Finally it also
+supplies various additional supporting APIs that are not directly cryptography
+related but are nonetheless useful and depended upon by other APIs. For
+example the "BIO" functions provide capabilities for abstracting I/O, e.g. via a
+file or over a network.
+.PP
+The \f(CW\*(C`libssl\*(C'\fR library provides functions to perform secure communication between
+two peers across a network. Most significantly it implements support for the
+SSL/TLS, DTLS and QUIC standards.
+.PP
+The \f(CW\*(C`libssl\*(C'\fR library depends on and uses many of the capabilities supplied by
+\&\f(CW\*(C`libcrypto\*(C'\fR. Any application linked against \f(CW\*(C`libssl\*(C'\fR will also link against
+\&\f(CW\*(C`libcrypto\*(C'\fR, and most applications that do this will directly use API functions
+supplied by both libraries.
+.PP
+Applications may be written that only use \f(CW\*(C`libcrypto\*(C'\fR capabilities and do not
+link against \f(CW\*(C`libssl\*(C'\fR at all.
+.SH PROVIDERS
+.IX Header "PROVIDERS"
+As well as the two main libraries, OpenSSL also comes with a set of providers.
+.PP
+A provider in OpenSSL is a component that collects together algorithm
+implementations (for example an implementation of the symmetric encryption
+algorithm AES). In order to use an algorithm you must have at least one
+provider loaded that contains an implementation of it. OpenSSL comes with a
+number of providers and they may also be obtained from third parties.
+.PP
+Providers may either be "built-in" or in the form of a separate loadable module
+file (typically one ending in ".so" or ".dll" dependent on the platform). A
+built-in provider is one that is either already present in \f(CW\*(C`libcrypto\*(C'\fR or one
+that the application has supplied itself directly. Third parties can also supply
+providers in the form of loadable modules.
+.PP
+If you don't load a provider explicitly (either in program code or via config)
+then the OpenSSL built-in "default" provider will be automatically loaded.
+.PP
+See "OPENSSL PROVIDERS" below for a description of the providers that OpenSSL
+itself supplies.
+.PP
+Loading and unloading providers is quite an expensive operation. It is normally
+done once, early on in the application lifecycle and those providers are kept
+loaded for the duration of the application execution.
+.SH "LIBRARY CONTEXTS"
+.IX Header "LIBRARY CONTEXTS"
+Many OpenSSL API functions make use of a library context. A library context can
+be thought of as a "scope" within which configuration options take effect. When
+a provider is loaded, it is only loaded within the scope of a given library
+context. In this way it is possible for different components of a complex
+application to each use a different library context and have different providers
+loaded with different configuration settings.
+.PP
+If an application does not explicitly create a library context then the
+"default" library context will be used.
+.PP
+Library contexts are represented by the \fBOSSL_LIB_CTX\fR type. Many OpenSSL API
+functions take a library context as a parameter. Applications can always pass
+\&\fBNULL\fR for this parameter to just use the default library context.
+.PP
+The default library context is automatically created the first time it is
+needed. This will automatically load any available configuration file and will
+initialise OpenSSL for use. Unlike in earlier versions of OpenSSL (prior to
+1.1.0) no explicit initialisation steps need to be taken.
+.PP
+Similarly when the application exits, the default library context is
+automatically destroyed. No explicit de-initialisation steps need to be taken.
+.PP
+See \fBOSSL_LIB_CTX\fR\|(3) for more information about library contexts.
+See also "ALGORITHM FETCHING" in \fBossl\-guide\-libcrypto\-introduction\fR\|(7).
+.SH "PROPERTY QUERY STRINGS"
+.IX Header "PROPERTY QUERY STRINGS"
+In some cases the available providers may mean that more than one implementation
+of any given algorithm might be available. For example the OpenSSL FIPS provider
+supplies alternative implementations of many of the same algorithms that are
+available in the OpenSSL default provider.
+.PP
+The process of selecting an algorithm implementation is known as "fetching".
+When OpenSSL fetches an algorithm to use it is possible to specify a "property
+query string" to guide the selection process. For example a property query
+string of "provider=default" could be used to force the selection to only
+consider algorithm implementations in the default provider.
+.PP
+Property query strings can be specified explicitly as an argument to a function.
+It is also possible to specify a default property query string for the whole
+library context using the \fBEVP_set_default_properties\fR\|(3) or
+\&\fBEVP_default_properties_enable_fips\fR\|(3) functions. Where both
+default properties and function specific properties are specified then they are
+combined. Function specific properties will override default properties where
+there is a conflict.
+.PP
+See "ALGORITHM FETCHING" in \fBossl\-guide\-libcrypto\-introduction\fR\|(7) for more
+information about fetching. See \fBproperty\fR\|(7) for more information about
+properties.
+.SH "MULTI-THREADED APPLICATIONS"
+.IX Header "MULTI-THREADED APPLICATIONS"
+As long as OpenSSL has been built with support for threads (the default case
+on most platforms) then most OpenSSL \fIfunctions\fR are thread-safe in the sense
+that it is safe to call the same function from multiple threads at the same
+time. However most OpenSSL \fIdata structures\fR are not thread-safe. For example
+the \fBBIO_write\fR\|(3) and \fBBIO_read\fR\|(3) functions are thread safe. However it
+would not be thread safe to call \fBBIO_write()\fR from one thread while calling
+\&\fBBIO_read()\fR in another where both functions are passed the same \fBBIO\fR object
+since both of them may attempt to make changes to the same \fBBIO\fR object.
+.PP
+There are exceptions to these rules. A small number of functions are not thread
+safe at all. Where this is the case this restriction should be noted in the
+documentation for the function. Similarly some data structures may be partially
+or fully thread safe. For example it is always safe to use an \fBOSSL_LIB_CTX\fR in
+multiple threads.
+.PP
+See \fBopenssl\-threads\fR\|(7) for a more detailed discussion on OpenSSL threading
+support.
+.SH "ERROR HANDLING"
+.IX Header "ERROR HANDLING"
+Most OpenSSL functions will provide a return value indicating whether the
+function has been successful or not. It is considered best practice to always
+check the return value from OpenSSL functions (where one is available).
+.PP
+Most functions that return a pointer value will return NULL in the event of a
+failure.
+.PP
+Most functions that return an integer value will return a positive integer for
+success. Some of these functions will return 0 to indicate failure. Others may
+return 0 or a negative value for failure.
+.PP
+Some functions cannot fail and have a \fBvoid\fR return type. There are also a
+small number of functions that do not conform to the above conventions (e.g.
+they may return 0 to indicate success).
+.PP
+Due to the above variations in behaviour it is important to check the
+documentation for each function for information about how to interpret the
+return value for it.
+.PP
+It is sometimes necessary to get further information about the cause of a
+failure (e.g. for debugging or logging purposes). Many (but not all) functions
+will add further information about a failure to the OpenSSL error stack. By
+using the error stack you can find out information such as a reason code/string
+for the error as well as the exact file and source line within OpenSSL that
+emitted the error.
+.PP
+OpenSSL supplies a set of error handling functions to query the error stack. See
+\&\fBERR_get_error\fR\|(3) for information about the functions available for querying
+error data. Also see \fBERR_print_errors\fR\|(3) for information on some simple
+helper functions for printing error data. Finally look at \fBERR_clear_error\fR\|(3)
+for how to clear old errors from the error stack.
+.SH "OPENSSL PROVIDERS"
+.IX Header "OPENSSL PROVIDERS"
+OpenSSL comes with a set of providers.
+.PP
+The algorithms available in each of these providers may vary due to build time
+configuration options. The \fBopenssl\-list\fR\|(1) command can be used to list the
+currently available algorithms.
+.PP
+The names of the algorithms shown from \fBopenssl\-list\fR\|(1) can be used as an
+algorithm identifier to the appropriate fetching function. Also see the provider
+specific manual pages linked below for further details about using the
+algorithms available in each of the providers.
+.PP
+As well as the OpenSSL providers third parties can also implement providers.
+For information on writing a provider see \fBprovider\fR\|(7).
+.SS "Default provider"
+.IX Subsection "Default provider"
+The default provider is built-in as part of the \fIlibcrypto\fR library and
+contains all of the most commonly used algorithm implementations. Should it be
+needed (if other providers are loaded and offer implementations of the same
+algorithms), the property query string "provider=default" can be used as a
+search criterion for these implementations. The default provider includes all
+of the functionality in the base provider below.
+.PP
+If you don't load any providers at all then the "default" provider will be
+automatically loaded. If you explicitly load any provider then the "default"
+provider would also need to be explicitly loaded if it is required.
+.PP
+See \fBOSSL_PROVIDER\-default\fR\|(7).
+.SS "Base provider"
+.IX Subsection "Base provider"
+The base provider is built in as part of the \fIlibcrypto\fR library and contains
+algorithm implementations for encoding and decoding of OpenSSL keys.
+Should it be needed (if other providers are loaded and offer
+implementations of the same algorithms), the property query string
+"provider=base" can be used as a search criterion for these implementations.
+Some encoding and decoding algorithm implementations are not FIPS algorithm
+implementations in themselves but support algorithms from the FIPS provider and
+are allowed for use in "FIPS mode". The property query string "fips=yes" can be
+used to select such algorithms.
+.PP
+See \fBOSSL_PROVIDER\-base\fR\|(7).
+.SS "FIPS provider"
+.IX Subsection "FIPS provider"
+The FIPS provider is a dynamically loadable module, and must therefore
+be loaded explicitly, either in code or through OpenSSL configuration
+(see \fBconfig\fR\|(5)). It contains algorithm implementations that have been
+validated according to FIPS standards. Should it be needed (if other
+providers are loaded and offer implementations of the same algorithms), the
+property query string "provider=fips" can be used as a search criterion for
+these implementations. All approved algorithm implementations in the FIPS
+provider can also be selected with the property "fips=yes". The FIPS provider
+may also contain non-approved algorithm implementations and these can be
+selected with the property "fips=no".
+.PP
+Typically the "Base provider" will also need to be loaded because the FIPS
+provider does not support the encoding or decoding of keys.
+.PP
+See \fBOSSL_PROVIDER\-FIPS\fR\|(7) and \fBfips_module\fR\|(7).
+.SS "Legacy provider"
+.IX Subsection "Legacy provider"
+The legacy provider is a dynamically loadable module, and must therefore
+be loaded explicitly, either in code or through OpenSSL configuration
+(see \fBconfig\fR\|(5)). It contains algorithm implementations that are considered
+insecure, or are no longer in common use such as MD2 or RC4. Should it be needed
+(if other providers are loaded and offer implementations of the same algorithms),
+the property "provider=legacy" can be used as a search criterion for these
+implementations.
+.PP
+See \fBOSSL_PROVIDER\-legacy\fR\|(7).
+.SS "Null provider"
+.IX Subsection "Null provider"
+The null provider is built in as part of the \fIlibcrypto\fR library. It contains
+no algorithms in it at all. When fetching algorithms the default provider will
+be automatically loaded if no other provider has been explicitly loaded. To
+prevent that from happening you can explicitly load the null provider.
+.PP
+You can use this if you create your own library context and want to ensure that
+all API calls have correctly passed the created library context and are not
+accidentally using the default library context. Load the null provider into the
+default library context so that the default library context has no algorithm
+implementations available.
+.PP
+See \fBOSSL_PROVIDER\-null\fR\|(7).
+.SH CONFIGURATION
+.IX Header "CONFIGURATION"
+By default OpenSSL will load a configuration file when it is first used. This
+will set up various configuration settings within the default library context.
+Applications that create their own library contexts may optionally configure
+them with a config file using the \fBOSSL_LIB_CTX_load_config\fR\|(3) function.
+.PP
+The configuration file can be used to automatically load providers and set up
+default property query strings.
+.PP
+For information on the OpenSSL configuration file format see \fBconfig\fR\|(5).
+.SH "LIBRARY CONVENTIONS"
+.IX Header "LIBRARY CONVENTIONS"
+Many OpenSSL functions that "get" or "set" a value follow a naming convention
+using the numbers \fB0\fR and \fB1\fR, i.e. "get0", "get1", "set0" and "set1". This
+can also apply to some functions that "add" a value to an existing set, i.e.
+"add0" and "add1".
+.PP
+For example the functions:
+.PP
+.Vb 2
+\& int X509_CRL_add0_revoked(X509_CRL *crl, X509_REVOKED *rev);
+\& int X509_add1_trust_object(X509 *x, const ASN1_OBJECT *obj);
+.Ve
+.PP
+In the \fB0\fR version the ownership of the object is passed to (for an add or set)
+or retained by (for a get) the parent object. For example after calling the
+\&\fBX509_CRL_add0_revoked()\fR function above, ownership of the \fIrev\fR object is passed
+to the \fIcrl\fR object. Therefore, after calling this function \fIrev\fR should not
+be freed directly. It will be freed implicitly when \fIcrl\fR is freed.
+.PP
+In the \fB1\fR version the ownership of the object is not passed to or retained by
+the parent object. Instead a copy or "up ref" of the object is performed. So
+after calling the \fBX509_add1_trust_object()\fR function above the application will
+still be responsible for freeing the \fIobj\fR value where appropriate.
+.PP
+Many OpenSSL functions conform to a naming convention of the form
+\&\fBCLASSNAME_func_name()\fR. In this naming convention the \fBCLASSNAME\fR is the name
+of an OpenSSL data structure (given in capital letters) that the function is
+primarily operating on. The \fBfunc_name\fR portion of the name is usually in
+lowercase letters and indicates the purpose of the function.
+.SH "DEMO APPLICATIONS"
+.IX Header "DEMO APPLICATIONS"
+OpenSSL is distributed with a set of demo applications which provide some
+examples of how to use the various API functions. To look at them download the
+OpenSSL source code from the OpenSSL website
+(<https://www.openssl.org/source/>). Extract the downloaded \fB.tar.gz\fR file for
+the version of OpenSSL that you are using and look at the various files in the
+\&\fBdemos\fR sub-directory.
+.PP
+The Makefiles in the subdirectories give instructions on how to build and run
+the demo applications.
+.SH "FURTHER READING"
+.IX Header "FURTHER READING"
+See \fBossl\-guide\-libcrypto\-introduction\fR\|(7) for a more detailed introduction to
+using \f(CW\*(C`libcrypto\*(C'\fR and \fBossl\-guide\-libssl\-introduction\fR\|(7) for more information
+on \f(CW\*(C`libssl\*(C'\fR.
+.SH "SEE ALSO"
+.IX Header "SEE ALSO"
+\&\fBopenssl\fR\|(1), \fBssl\fR\|(7), \fBevp\fR\|(7), \fBOSSL_LIB_CTX\fR\|(3), \fBopenssl\-threads\fR\|(7),
+\&\fBproperty\fR\|(7), \fBOSSL_PROVIDER\-default\fR\|(7), \fBOSSL_PROVIDER\-base\fR\|(7),
+\&\fBOSSL_PROVIDER\-FIPS\fR\|(7), \fBOSSL_PROVIDER\-legacy\fR\|(7), \fBOSSL_PROVIDER\-null\fR\|(7),
+\&\fBopenssl\-glossary\fR\|(7), \fBprovider\fR\|(7)
+.SH COPYRIGHT
+.IX Header "COPYRIGHT"
+Copyright 2000\-2023 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
+.PP
+Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
+this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
+in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
+<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.