ERR_NEW(3ossl)

💖 ERR_NEW(3ossl) 💖

okay so this is the OpenSSL manual page for the little building blocks that record errors — and yes bestie, they’re lowkey iconic even if you usually meet them through macros instead of calling them straight up. 🫶

🎀 NAME 🎀

ERR_new, ERR_set_debug, ERR_set_error, ERR_vset_error — error recording building blocks, periodt. 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <openssl/err.h>

void ERR_new(void);
void ERR_set_debug(const char *file, int line, const char *func);
void ERR_set_error(int lib, int reason, const char *fmt, ...);
void ERR_vset_error(int lib, int reason, const char *fmt, va_list args);

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so real talk: the functions described here are generally not used directly, but rather through macros such as ERR_raise(3). They can still be useful for anyone that wants to make their own macros. ✨

• ERR_new() — allocates a new slot in the thread’s error queue. new slot, who dis? 💖
• ERR_set_debug() — sets the debug information related to the current error in the thread’s error queue. The values that can be given are the filename file, line in the file line, and the name of the function func where the error occurred. The names must be constant — this function will only save away the pointers, not copy the strings. no cap, it’s pointer-saving only. 🫶
• ERR_set_error() — sets the error information, which are the library number lib and the reason code reason, plus additional data as a format string fmt and an arbitrary number of arguments. The additional data is processed with BIO_snprintf(3) to form the additional data string, which is allocated and stored in the error record. formatting girlies, this one’s for you. 🎀
• ERR_vset_error() — works like ERR_set_error(), but takes a va_list argument instead of a variable number of arguments. same vibe, different argument delivery. 💅

💅 RETURN VALUES 💅

ERR_new, ERR_set_debug, ERR_set_error and ERR_vset_error do not return any values. zero returns, zero drama, just side effects and error-queue business. 💀

🧚 NOTES 🧚

The library number is unique to each unit that records errors. OpenSSL has a number of preallocated ones for its own uses, but others may allocate their own library number dynamically with ERR_get_next_error_library(3). 🌈

Reason codes are unique within each library, and may have an associated set of strings as a short description of the reason. For dynamically allocated library numbers, reason strings are recorded with ERR_load_strings(3). 🦋

Provider authors are supplied with core versions of these functions, see provider-base(7). provider besties, this one’s for you. 👑

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

ERR_raise(3), ERR_get_next_error_library(3), ERR_load_strings(3), BIO_snprintf(3), provider-base(7) — go read these next, iykyk. 💖

👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright 2000-2020 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>.

🫶 signed, sealed, slayed: ERR_NEW(3ossl) · OpenSSL 3.5.6 · dated 2026-04-07 💋