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authorRalf S. Engelschall <rse@openssl.org>1998-12-31 11:18:15 +0000
committerRalf S. Engelschall <rse@openssl.org>1998-12-31 11:18:15 +0000
commit9f28c57cea35cf6b11beec154184ec387cd9d22c (patch)
treef72548b5fbb16ee59a2d7a17b167aaa997a751b2 /doc
parentfcc6c7199b9dd36d09440700de2e58c6a2484bb1 (diff)
More structuring and sorting of the SSL API documentation.
And the first steps to descriptions in prosa.
Diffstat (limited to 'doc')
-rw-r--r--doc/ssl.pod181
1 files changed, 150 insertions, 31 deletions
diff --git a/doc/ssl.pod b/doc/ssl.pod
index d992117ffc..ab839c055c 100644
--- a/doc/ssl.pod
+++ b/doc/ssl.pod
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ The OpenSSL B<ssl> library implements the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL v2/v3) and
Transport Layer Security (TLS v1) protocols. It provides a rich API which is
documented here.
-=head1 HEADERS
+=head1 HEADER FILES
Currently the OpenSSL B<ssl> library provides the following C header files
containing the prototypes for the data structures and and functions:
@@ -25,45 +25,164 @@ containing the prototypes for the data structures and and functions:
That's the common header file for the SSL/TLS API. Include it into your
program to make the API of the B<ssl> library available. It internally
includes both more private SSL headers and headers from the B<crypto> library.
+Whenever you need hard-core details on the internals of the SSL API, look
+inside this header file.
+
+=item B<ssl2.h>
+
+That's the sub header file dealing with the SSLv2 protocol only.
+I<Usually you don't have to include it explicitly because
+it's already included by ssl.h>.
+
+=item B<ssl3.h>
+
+That's the sub header file dealing with the SSLv3 protocol only.
+I<Usually you don't have to include it explicitly because
+it's already included by ssl.h>.
+
+=item B<ssl23.h>
+
+That's the sub header file dealing with the combined use of the SSLv2 and
+SSLv3 protocols.
+I<Usually you don't have to include it explicitly because
+it's already included by ssl.h>.
+
+=item B<tls1.h>
+
+That's the sub header file dealing with the TLSv1 protocol only.
+I<Usually you don't have to include it explicitly because
+it's already included by ssl.h>.
=back
-=head1 STRUCTURES
+=head1 DATA STRUCTURES
-Currently the OpenSSL B<ssl> library functions deal with the following data
+Currently the OpenSSL B<ssl> library functions deals with the following data
structures:
=over 4
-=item B<SSL_CTX> (SSL Context)
+=item B<SSL_METHOD> (SSL Method)
-=item B<SSL> (SSL Connection)
+That's a dispatch structure describing the internal B<ssl> library
+methods/functions which implement the various protocol versions (SSLv1, SSLv2
+and TLSv1). It's needed to create an B<SSL_CTX>.
+
+=item B<SSL_CIPHER> (SSL Cipher)
-That's the SSL/TLS structure which is created by
-a server or client per established connection.
+This structure holds the algorithm information for a particular cipher which
+are a core part of the SSL/TLS protocol. The available ciphers are configured
+on a B<SSL_CTX> basis and the actually used ones are then part of the
+B<SSL_SESSION>.
-=item B<SSL_METHOD> (SSL Method)
+=item B<SSL_CTX> (SSL Context)
-=item B<SSL_CIPHER> (SSL Cipher)
+That's the global context structure which is created by a server or client
+once per program life-time and which holds mainly default values for the
+B<SSL> structures which are later created for the connections.
=item B<SSL_SESSION> (SSL Session)
+This is a structure containing the current SSL session details for a
+connection: B<SSL_CIPHER>s, client and server certificates, keys, etc.
+
+=item B<SSL> (SSL Connection)
+
+That's the main SSL/TLS structure which is created by a server or client per
+established connection. This actually is the core structure in the SSL API.
+Under run-time the application usually deals with this structure which has
+links to mostly all other structures.
+
=back
-=head1 FUNCTIONS
+=head1 API FUNCTIONS
Currently the OpenSSL B<ssl> library exports 214 API functions.
They are documented in the following:
+=head2 DEALING WITH PROTOCOL METHODS
+
+Here we document the various API functions which deal with the SSL/TLS
+protocol methods defined in B<SSL_METHOD> structures.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item SSL_METHOD *B<SSLv2_client_method>(void);
+
+Constructor for the SSLv2 SSL_METHOD structure for a dedicated client.
+
+=item SSL_METHOD *B<SSLv2_server_method>(void);
+
+Constructor for the SSLv2 SSL_METHOD structure for a dedicated server.
+
+=item SSL_METHOD *B<SSLv2_method>(void);
+
+Constructor for the SSLv2 SSL_METHOD structure for combined client and server.
+
+=item SSL_METHOD *B<SSLv3_client_method>(void);
+
+Constructor for the SSLv3 SSL_METHOD structure for a dedicated client.
+
+=item SSL_METHOD *B<SSLv3_server_method>(void);
+
+Constructor for the SSLv3 SSL_METHOD structure for a dedicated server.
+
+=item SSL_METHOD *B<SSLv3_method>(void);
+
+Constructor for the SSLv3 SSL_METHOD structure for combined client and server.
+
+=item SSL_METHOD *B<TLSv1_client_method>(void);
+
+Constructor for the TLSv1 SSL_METHOD structure for a dedicated client.
+
+=item SSL_METHOD *B<TLSv1_server_method>(void);
+
+Constructor for the TLSv1 SSL_METHOD structure for a dedicated server.
+
+=item SSL_METHOD *B<TLSv1_method>(void);
+
+Constructor for the TLSv1 SSL_METHOD structure for combined client and server.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 DEALING WITH CIPHERS
+
+Here we document the various API functions which deal with the SSL/TLS
+ciphers defined in B<SSL_CIPHER> structures.
+
=over 4
=item char *B<SSL_CIPHER_description>(SSL_CIPHER *cipher, char *buf, int len);
-=item int B<SSL_CIPHER_get_bits>(SSL_CIPHER *c, int *alg_bits);
+Write a string to I<buf> (with a maximum size of I<len>) containing a human
+readable description of I<cipher>. Returns I<buf>.
+
+=item int B<SSL_CIPHER_get_bits>(SSL_CIPHER *cipher, int *alg_bits);
+
+Determine the number of bits in I<cipher>. Because of export crippled ciphers
+there are two bits: The bits the algorithm supports in general (stored to
+I<alg_bits>) and the bits which are actually used (the return value).
+
+=item char *B<SSL_CIPHER_get_name>(SSL_CIPHER *cipher);
+
+Return the internal name of I<cipher> as a string. These are the various
+strings defined by the I<SSL2_TXT_xxx>, I<SSL3_TXT_xxx> and I<TLS1_TXT_xxx>
+definitions in the header files.
+
+=item char *B<SSL_CIPHER_get_version>(SSL_CIPHER *cipher);
-=item char *B<SSL_CIPHER_get_name>(SSL_CIPHER *c);
+Returns a string like "C<TLSv1/SSLv3>" or "C<SSLv2>" which indicates the
+SSL/TLS protocol version to which I<cipher> belongs (i.e. where it was defined
+in the specification the first time).
-=item char *B<SSL_CIPHER_get_version>(SSL_CIPHER *c);
+=back
+
+=head2 DEALING WITH PROTOCOL CONTEXTS
+
+Here we document the various API functions which deal with the SSL/TLS
+protocol context defined in the B<SSL_CTX> structure.
+
+=over 4
=item int B<SSL_CTX_add_client_CA>(SSL_CTX *ctx, X509 *x);
@@ -213,6 +332,15 @@ They are documented in the following:
=item int B<SSL_CTX_use_certificate_file>(SSL_CTX *ctx, char *file, int type);
+=back
+
+=head2 DEALING WITH SESSIONS
+
+Here we document the various API functions which deal with the SSL/TLS
+sessions defined in the B<SSL_SESSION> structures.
+
+=over 4
+
=item int B<SSL_SESSION_cmp>(SSL_SESSION *a, SSL_SESSION *b);
=item void B<SSL_SESSION_free>(SSL_SESSION *ss);
@@ -243,6 +371,15 @@ They are documented in the following:
=item long B<SSL_SESSION_set_timeout>(SSL_SESSION *s, long t);
+=back
+
+=head2 DEALING WITH CONNECTIONS
+
+Here we document the various API functions which deal with the SSL/TLS
+connection defined in the B<SSL> structure.
+
+=over 4
+
=item int B<SSL_accept>(SSL *ssl);
=item int B<SSL_add_client_CA>(SSL *ssl, X509 *x);
@@ -463,24 +600,6 @@ They are documented in the following:
=item int B<SSL_write>(SSL *ssl, char *buf, int num);
-=item SSL_METHOD *B<SSLv2_client_method>(void);
-
-=item SSL_METHOD *B<SSLv2_method>(void);
-
-=item SSL_METHOD *B<SSLv2_server_method>(void);
-
-=item SSL_METHOD *B<SSLv3_client_method>(void);
-
-=item SSL_METHOD *B<SSLv3_method>(void);
-
-=item SSL_METHOD *B<SSLv3_server_method>(void);
-
-=item SSL_METHOD *B<TLSv1_client_method>(void);
-
-=item SSL_METHOD *B<TLSv1_method>(void);
-
-=item SSL_METHOD *B<TLSv1_server_method>(void);
-
=back
=head1 SEE ALSO