EVP_PKEY2PKCS8(3ossl)

📦
version 3.5.9 · 8 versions
, in fedora 43, fedora 44

💖 EVP_PKEY2PKCS8 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the EVP_PKEY2PKCS8(3ossl) page, which lives in the OpenSSL family and is literally just the glow-up station where private keys get converted to and from PKCS8. yes, that's the whole vibe. it's giving ✨ key transformation era ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

EVP_PKEY2PKCS8, EVP_PKCS82PKEY_ex, EVP_PKCS82PKEY — converting a private key to/from PKCS8, no cap 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <openssl/x509.h>

PKCS8_PRIV_KEY_INFO *EVP_PKEY2PKCS8(const EVP_PKEY *pkey);
EVP_PKEY *EVP_PKCS82PKEY(const PKCS8_PRIV_KEY_INFO *p8);
EVP_PKEY *EVP_PKCS82PKEY_ex(const PKCS8_PRIV_KEY_INFO *p8, OSSL_LIB_CTX *libctx,
                            const char *propq);

like… look at those signatures. so clean. so iconic. 💅

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

so here's the tea, fr fr. there are three besties on this page and they all do key conversions, just in different directions and with different levels of extra.

  • EVP_PKEY2PKCS8() takes a private key pkey and converts it into a returned PKCS8 object. that's it. that's the job. it's giving "i turn your key into a PKCS8 baddie" energy 👑
  • EVP_PKCS82PKEY_ex() goes the other way — it takes a PKCS8 object p8 and converts it into a returned private key. and the ex part? it uses libctx and propq when fetching algorithms. so it's the version that lets you be specific about your library context and property query. main character energy, honestly. 🌈
  • EVP_PKCS82PKEY() is basically EVP_PKCS82PKEY_ex() but lowkey simpler — it just uses the default values of NULL for both libctx and propq. same conversion, no extra parameters, no drama. 🫶

💜 RETURN VALUES 💜

  • EVP_PKEY2PKCS8() returns a PKCS8 object on success. slay. ✨
  • EVP_PKCS82PKEY() and EVP_PKCS82PKEY_ex() return a private key on success. also slay. 🔥
but bestie… all of these functions return NULL if the operation fails. so like, always check. no cap. 😭

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

iykyk 💖

Copyright 2020-2022 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>.

and that's the whole page bestie!! 🌈 this was EVP_PKEY2PKCS8(3ossl) from the OpenSSL manual, version 3.5.9, dated 2026-09-29. ty for reading, mwah 💅💖🎀

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