5 BN_new, BN_init, BN_clear, BN_free, BN_clear_free - allocate and free BIGNUMs
9 #include <openssl/bn.h>
13 void BN_clear(BIGNUM *a);
15 void BN_free(BIGNUM *a);
17 void BN_clear_free(BIGNUM *a);
21 BN_new() allocates and initializes a B<BIGNUM> structure.
23 BN_clear() is used to destroy sensitive data such as keys when they
24 are no longer needed. It erases the memory used by B<a> and sets it
27 BN_free() frees the components of the B<BIGNUM>, and if it was created
28 by BN_new(), also the structure itself. BN_clear_free() additionally
29 overwrites the data before the memory is returned to the system.
30 If B<a> is NULL, nothing is done.
34 BN_new() returns a pointer to the B<BIGNUM>. If the allocation fails,
35 it returns B<NULL> and sets an error code that can be obtained
36 by L<ERR_get_error(3)>.
38 BN_clear(), BN_free() and BN_clear_free() have no return values.
40 =head1 REMOVED FUNCTIONALITY
42 void BN_init(BIGNUM *);
44 BN_init() is no longer available as of OpenSSL 1.1.0. It was used to initialize
45 an existing uninitialized B<BIGNUM>. Typically this would be done as follows:
50 Applications should replace use of BN_init with BN_new instead:
54 if(!a) /* Handle error */
60 L<bn(3)>, L<ERR_get_error(3)>
64 BN_new(), BN_clear(), BN_free() and BN_clear_free() are available in
65 all versions on SSLeay and OpenSSL. BN_init() was added in SSLeay
66 0.9.1b and removed in OpenSSL 1.1.0.