OPENSSL-ERRSTR(1ossl)

📦
version 3.5.9 · 8 versions
, in alpine 3.23, alpine 3.24

💅 OPENSSL-ERRSTR(1ossl) — the OpenSSL girlie's guide to decoding error codes 🎀

okay bestie, so this is a page from the OpenSSL manual set — manual name openssl-errstr, section 1ossl, straight outta the OpenSSL docs. it's short, it's sweet, and honestly it's lowkey iconic for debugging. let's get into it ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

openssl-errstr — lookup error codes 🔍

like, you give it a hex code, it tells you what that hex code actually means. that's the whole vibe. periodt.

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

openssl errstr [-help] error_code...

so it's openssl errstr, then optionally -help, then one or more error_code args. note the ... — you can throw multiple codes at it, she's flexible 💅

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so here's the situation: sometimes an application will not load error message texts, and only numerical forms will be available. so you're just staring at numbers like 😭😭😭.

that's exactly when this command shows up, main character energy, and displays the meaning of the hex code. the hex code you want is the hex digits after the second colon — that's the part you extract, iykyk.

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -help — display a usage message. that's it, that's the whole list. one option. she's minimal and she ate 🤸‍♀️

🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

so imagine you've got this error code:

27594:error:2006D080:lib(32)::reason(128)::107:

(it's giving chaos, honestly 💀)

you can display it with:

openssl errstr 2006D080

and it produces the error message:

error:2006D080:BIO routines::no such file

SEE. the hex digits after the second colon — 2006D080 — that's the bit you feed in. slay. 🧚

Copyright 2004-2020 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.

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>.

alright bestie that's the whole page — short, useful, and fr fr worth remembering the next time an app refuses to give you a nice error string 🫶

quick vibe check reminder: the source version is 3.5.9 and this edition is dated 2026-09-29. write those down if you're citing her, okay? 💖

go decode something, you've got this 💜🌈⭐

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