README

   1
   2  OpenSSL 0.9.8-dev XX xxx XXXX
   3
   4  Copyright (c) 1998-2005 The OpenSSL Project
   5  Copyright (c) 1995-1998 Eric A. Young, Tim J. Hudson
   6  All rights reserved.
   7
   8  DESCRIPTION
   9  -----------
  10
  11  The OpenSSL Project is a collaborative effort to develop a robust,
  12  commercial-grade, fully featured, and Open Source toolkit implementing the
  13  Secure Sockets Layer (SSL v2/v3) and Transport Layer Security (TLS v1)
  14  protocols as well as a full-strength general purpose cryptography library.
  15  The project is managed by a worldwide community of volunteers that use the
  16  Internet to communicate, plan, and develop the OpenSSL toolkit and its
  17  related documentation.
  18
  19  OpenSSL is based on the excellent SSLeay library developed from Eric A. Young
  20  and Tim J. Hudson.  The OpenSSL toolkit is licensed under a dual-license (the
  21  OpenSSL license plus the SSLeay license) situation, which basically means
  22  that you are free to get and use it for commercial and non-commercial
  23  purposes as long as you fulfill the conditions of both licenses.
  24
  25  OVERVIEW
  26  --------
  27
  28  The OpenSSL toolkit includes:
  29
  30  libssl.a:
  31      Implementation of SSLv2, SSLv3, TLSv1 and the required code to support
  32      both SSLv2, SSLv3 and TLSv1 in the one server and client.
  33
  34  libcrypto.a:
  35      General encryption and X.509 v1/v3 stuff needed by SSL/TLS but not
  36      actually logically part of it. It includes routines for the following:
  37
  38      Ciphers
  39         libdes - EAY's libdes DES encryption package which has been floating
  40                  around the net for a few years.  It includes 15
  41                  'modes/variations' of DES (1, 2 and 3 key versions of ecb,
  42                  cbc, cfb and ofb; pcbc and a more general form of cfb and
  43                  ofb) including desx in cbc mode, a fast crypt(3), and
  44                  routines to read passwords from the keyboard.
  45         RC4 encryption,
  46         RC2 encryption      - 4 different modes, ecb, cbc, cfb and ofb.
  47         Blowfish encryption - 4 different modes, ecb, cbc, cfb and ofb.
  48         IDEA encryption     - 4 different modes, ecb, cbc, cfb and ofb.
  49
  50      Digests
  51         MD5 and MD2 message digest algorithms, fast implementations,
  52         SHA (SHA-0) and SHA-1 message digest algorithms,
  53         MDC2 message digest. A DES based hash that is popular on smart cards.
  54
  55      Public Key
  56         RSA encryption/decryption/generation.
  57             There is no limit on the number of bits.
  58         DSA encryption/decryption/generation.
  59             There is no limit on the number of bits.
  60         Diffie-Hellman key-exchange/key generation.
  61             There is no limit on the number of bits.
  62
  63      X.509v3 certificates
  64         X509 encoding/decoding into/from binary ASN1 and a PEM
  65              based ASCII-binary encoding which supports encryption with a
  66              private key.  Program to generate RSA and DSA certificate
  67              requests and to generate RSA and DSA certificates.
  68
  69      Systems
  70         The normal digital envelope routines and base64 encoding.  Higher
  71         level access to ciphers and digests by name.  New ciphers can be
  72         loaded at run time.  The BIO io system which is a simple non-blocking
  73         IO abstraction.  Current methods supported are file descriptors,
  74         sockets, socket accept, socket connect, memory buffer, buffering, SSL
  75         client/server, file pointer, encryption, digest, non-blocking testing
  76         and null.
  77
  78      Data structures
  79         A dynamically growing hashing system
  80         A simple stack.
  81         A Configuration loader that uses a format similar to MS .ini files.
  82
  83  openssl:
  84      A command line tool that can be used for:
  85         Creation of RSA, DH and DSA key parameters
  86         Creation of X.509 certificates, CSRs and CRLs
  87         Calculation of Message Digests
  88         Encryption and Decryption with Ciphers
  89         SSL/TLS Client and Server Tests
  90         Handling of S/MIME signed or encrypted mail
  91
  92
  93  PATENTS
  94  -------
  95
  96  Various companies hold various patents for various algorithms in various
  97  locations around the world. _YOU_ are responsible for ensuring that your use
  98  of any algorithms is legal by checking if there are any patents in your
  99  country.  The file contains some of the patents that we know about or are
 100  rumored to exist. This is not a definitive list.
 101
 102  RSA Security holds software patents on the RC5 algorithm.  If you
 103  intend to use this cipher, you must contact RSA Security for
 104  licensing conditions. Their web page is http://www.rsasecurity.com/.
 105
 106  RC4 is a trademark of RSA Security, so use of this label should perhaps
 107  only be used with RSA Security's permission.
 108
 109  The IDEA algorithm is patented by Ascom in Austria, France, Germany, Italy,
 110  Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the USA.  They
 111  should be contacted if that algorithm is to be used; their web page is
 112  http://www.ascom.ch/.
 113
 114  The MDC2 algorithm is patented by IBM.
 115
 116  INSTALLATION
 117  ------------
 118
 119  To install this package under a Unix derivative, read the INSTALL file.  For
 120  a Win32 platform, read the INSTALL.W32 file.  For OpenVMS systems, read
 121  INSTALL.VMS.
 122
 123  Read the documentation in the doc/ directory.  It is quite rough, but it
 124  lists the functions; you will probably have to look at the code to work out
 125  how to use them. Look at the example programs.
 126
 127  PROBLEMS
 128  --------
 129
 130  For some platforms, there are some known problems that may affect the user
 131  or application author.  We try to collect those in doc/PROBLEMS, with current
 132  thoughts on how they should be solved in a future of OpenSSL.
 133
 134  SUPPORT
 135  -------
 136
 137  If you have any problems with OpenSSL then please take the following steps
 138  first:
 139
 140     - Download the current snapshot from ftp://ftp.openssl.org/snapshot/
 141       to see if the problem has already been addressed
 142     - Remove ASM versions of libraries
 143     - Remove compiler optimisation flags
 144
 145  If you wish to report a bug then please include the following information in
 146  any bug report:
 147
 148     - On Unix systems:
 149         Self-test report generated by 'make report'
 150     - On other systems:
 151         OpenSSL version: output of 'openssl version -a'
 152         OS Name, Version, Hardware platform
 153         Compiler Details (name, version)
 154     - Application Details (name, version)
 155     - Problem Description (steps that will reproduce the problem, if known)
 156     - Stack Traceback (if the application dumps core)
 157
 158  Report the bug to the OpenSSL project via the Request Tracker
 159  (http://www.openssl.org/support/rt2.html) by mail to:
 160
 161     openssl-bugs@openssl.org
 162
 163  Note that mail to openssl-bugs@openssl.org is recorded in the publicly
 164  readable request tracker database and is forwarded to a public
 165  mailing list. Confidential mail may be sent to openssl-security@openssl.org
 166  (PGP key available from the key servers).
 167
 168  HOW TO CONTRIBUTE TO OpenSSL
 169  ----------------------------
 170
 171  Development is coordinated on the openssl-dev mailing list (see
 172  http://www.openssl.org for information on subscribing). If you
 173  would like to submit a patch, send it to openssl-dev@openssl.org with
 174  the string "[PATCH]" in the subject. Please be sure to include a
 175  textual explanation of what your patch does.
 176
 177  Note: For legal reasons, contributions from the US can be accepted only
 178  if a TSU notification and a copy of the patch are sent to crypt@bis.doc.gov
 179  (formerly BXA) with a copy to the ENC Encryption Request Coordinator;
 180  please take some time to look at
 181     http://www.bis.doc.gov/Encryption/PubAvailEncSourceCodeNofify.html [sic]
 182  and
 183     http://w3.access.gpo.gov/bis/ear/pdf/740.pdf (EAR Section 740.13(e))
 184  for the details. If "your encryption source code is too large to serve as
 185  an email attachment", they are glad to receive it by fax instead; hope you
 186  have a cheap long-distance plan.
 187
 188  Our preferred format for changes is "diff -u" output. You might
 189  generate it like this:
 190
 191  # cd openssl-work
 192  # [your changes]
 193  # ./Configure dist; make clean
 194  # cd ..
 195  # diff -ur openssl-orig openssl-work > mydiffs.patch
 196