OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX(3ossl)

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

🎀 OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX 🎀

okay so bestie, welcome to the OpenSSL manual — section 3ossl, if you're keeping score. This is the low-level HTTP client corner of the library, and yeah it's the plumbing kind of page, not the "one function and you're done" kind. But it's iconic, it's giving infrastructure, and we're gonna get through it together. 🫶

It's a big one too, so this page rolls out in three parts. This is part one. Buckle up, hydrate, and let's go. 💅

✨ NAME ✨

OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX, OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_new, OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_free, OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_request_line, OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_add1_header, OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_expected, OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set1_req, OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_nbio, OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_nbio_d2i, OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_exchange, OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_get0_mem_bio, OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_get_resp_len, OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_max_response_length, OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_max_response_hdr_lines, OSSL_HTTP_is_alive

so basically: HTTP client low-level functions. That's the whole squad. 💖

Let's do a lil roll call so you know who's who, no cap:

  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX — the main character. This is the request context type itself. 👑
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_new — makes one. ✨
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_free — yeets one. 🦋
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_request_line — sets up the request line, method and all. 📝
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_add1_header — adds a single header. One. Not a crowd. 🙈
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_expected — tells the context what it should expect back. 🔮
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set1_req — sets the request body. 🎁
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_nbio — the non-blocking workhorse. 🔥
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_nbio_d2i — same energy, but decodes into an ASN1_VALUE. 🧚
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_exchange — does the whole request/response exchange. 💫
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_get0_mem_bio — hands you the memory BIO. 🎀
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_get_resp_len — how long was the response, bestie. 📏
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_max_response_length — caps the response length. 🚧
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_max_response_hdr_lines — caps how many response header lines you'll tolerate. 💀
  • OSSL_HTTP_is_alive — vibe check on the connection. Is it still alive? 🌸

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

the receipts, verbatim, periodt:

#include <openssl/http.h>

typedef struct ossl_http_req_ctx_st OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX;

OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX *OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_new(BIO *wbio, BIO *rbio, int buf_size);
void OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_free(OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX *rctx);

int OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_request_line(OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX *rctx, int method_POST,
                                       const char *server, const char *port,
                                       const char *path);
int OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_add1_header(OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX *rctx,
                                  const char *name, const char *value);

int OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_expected(OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX *rctx,
                                   const char *expected_content_type, int expect_asn1,
                                   int timeout, int keep_alive);
int OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set1_req(OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX *rctx, const char *content_type,
                               const ASN1_ITEM *it, const ASN1_VALUE *req);
int OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_nbio(OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX *rctx);
int OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_nbio_d2i(OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX *rctx,
                               ASN1_VALUE **pval, const ASN1_ITEM *it);
BIO *OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_exchange(OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX *rctx);

BIO *OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_get0_mem_bio(const OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX *rctx);
size_t OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_get_resp_len(const OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX *rctx);
void OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_max_response_length(OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX *rctx,
                                               unsigned long len);
void OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_max_response_hdr_lines(OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX *rctx,
                                                  size_t count);

int OSSL_HTTP_is_alive(const OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX *rctx);

okay that's the lineup and the signatures — everything you need to name-drop, nothing explained yet. The tea (aka what all these actually do, all the params, all the return values, all the warnings) is coming in the next part, so don't go anywhere. 💜

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

Okay bestie, gather round 💖 OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX is literally the context structure for an HTTP request and response — it's the little container that collects all the data you need to actually do the request. No cap.

This file is documenting low-level HTTP functions that you'll rarely use directly. The high-level HTTP client functions like OSSL_HTTP_get(3) and OSSL_HTTP_transfer(3)? Yeah, those are the ones you should prefer, fr fr. 💅

OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_new() allocates a brand-new HTTP request context structure. It gets populated with:

  • the BIO to write/send the request to (wbio),
  • the BIO to read/receive the response from (rbio, which may be equal to wbio),
  • and the maximum expected response header line length buf_size.

A buf_size value <= 0 means "use OSSL_HTTP_DEFAULT_MAX_LINE_LEN, which is 4KiB". Also, buf_size is used as the number of content bytes that are read at a time. The allocated context structure includes an internal memory BIO, which collects the HTTP request header lines. 🫶

OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_free() frees up the HTTP request context rctx. The rbio is not free'd, but wbio will be free'd if free_wbio is set. If the argument is NULL, nothing is done. Periodt.

OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_request_line() adds the 1st HTTP request line to rctx. The HTTP method is determined by method_POST, which should be 1 to indicate "POST" or 0 to indicate "GET". server and port may be set to give the server and the optional port that an HTTP proxy shall forward the request to; otherwise they must be left NULL. path provides the HTTP request path; if left NULL, "/" is used. For backward compatibility, path may begin with "http://" and thus convey an absoluteURI. In this case it indicates HTTP proxy use and provides also the server (and optionally the port) that the proxy shall forward the request to. In this case the server and port arguments must be NULL. The server, port, and path arguments must not contain CR or LF characters. 🚫

OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_add1_header() adds header name with value value to the context rctx. It can be called more than once to add multiple header lines. The name and value arguments must not contain CR or LF characters. For example, to add a "Host" header for "example.com" you would call:

OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_add1_header(ctx, "Host", "example.com");

OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_expected() optionally sets in rctx some expectations of the HTTP client on the response. Due to the structure of an HTTP request, if the keep_alive argument is nonzero the function must be used before calling OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set1_req(). 👑

If the expected_content_type argument is not NULL, the client will check in a case-insensitive way that the specified "Content-Type" string value is included in the HTTP header of the response and return an error if not. In the "Content-Type" header line the specified string should be present either as a whole, or in case the specified string does not include a ";" character, it is sufficient that the specified string appears as a prefix in the header line, followed by a ";" character and any further text. For instance, if the expected_content_type argument specifies "text/html", this is matched by "Text/HTML", "text/html; charset=UTF-8", etc. ✨

If the expect_asn1 parameter is nonzero a structure in ASN.1 encoding will be expected as the response content and input streaming is disabled. This means that an ASN.1 sequence header is required, its length field is checked, and OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_get0_mem_bio() should be used to get the buffered response. Otherwise (by default) any input format is allowed, with body length checks being performed on error messages only. In this case the BIO given as rbio argument to OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_new() should be used directly to read the response contents, which may support streaming. 🌊

If the timeout parameter is > 0 this indicates the maximum number of seconds the subsequent HTTP transfer (sending the request and receiving a response) is allowed to take. timeout == 0 enables waiting indefinitely, i.e., no timeout can occur. This is the default. timeout < 0 takes over any value set via the overall_timeout argument of OSSL_HTTP_open(3) with the default being 0, which means no timeout. ⏳

If the keep_alive parameter is 0, which is the default, the connection is not kept open after receiving a response. This is the default behavior for HTTP 1.0. If the value is 1 or 2 then a persistent connection is requested. If the value is 2 then a persistent connection is required, i.e., an error occurs in case the server does not grant it. 💀

OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set1_req() finalizes the HTTP request context. It is needed if the method_POST parameter in the OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_request_line() call was 1 and an ASN.1-encoded request should be sent. It must also be used when requesting "keep-alive", even if a GET request is going to be sent, in which case req must be NULL. Unless req is NULL, the function adds the DER encoding of req using the ASN.1 template it to do the encoding (which does not support streaming). The HTTP header "Content-Length" is filled out with the length of the request. content_type must be NULL if req is NULL. If content_type isn't NULL, the HTTP header "Content-Type" is also added with the given string value. The content_type argument must not contain CR or LF characters. The header lines are added to the internal memory BIO for the request header. 📦

OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_nbio() attempts to send the request prepared in rctx and to gather the response via HTTP, using the wbio and rbio that were given when calling OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_new(). The function may need to be called again if its result is -1, which indicates BIO_should_retry(3). In such a case it is advisable to sleep a little in between, using BIO_wait(3) on the read BIO to prevent a busy loop. See OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_expected() how the response content type, the response body, the HTTP transfer timeout, and "keep-alive" are treated. Any error message body is consumed if a "Content-Type" header is not included or its value starts with "text/". This is used for tracing the body contents if HTTP tracing is enabled. If the "Content-Length" header is present in the response and its value exceeds the maximum allowed response content length or the response is an error message with its body length exceeding this value or the content is an ASN.1-encoded structure with a length exceeding this value or both length indications are present but disagree then an error occurs. 🔥

OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_nbio_d2i() is like OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_nbio() but on success in addition parses the response, which must be a DER-encoded ASN.1 structure, using the ASN.1 template it and places the result in *pval. 🎀

OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_exchange() calls OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_nbio() as often as needed in order to exchange a request and response or until a timeout is reached. On success it returns a pointer to the BIO that can be used to read the result. If an ASN.1-encoded response was expected, this is the BIO returned by OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_get0_mem_bio() when called after the exchange. This memory BIO does not support streaming. Otherwise the returned BIO is the rbio given to OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_new(), which may support streaming. When this BIO is returned, it has been read past the end of the response header, such that the actual response body can be read from it. The returned BIO pointer MUST NOT be freed by the caller. 🙅

OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_get0_mem_bio() returns the internal memory BIO. Before the HTTP request is sent, this could be used to adapt its header lines. Use with caution! After receiving a response via HTTP, the BIO represents the current state of reading the response header. If the response was expected to be ASN.1 encoded, its contents can be read via this BIO, which does not support streaming. The returned BIO pointer must not be freed by the caller. 👀

OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_get_resp_len() returns the size of the response contents in rctx if provided by the server as "Content-Length" header field, else 0. 📏

OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_max_response_length() sets the maximum allowed response content length for rctx to len. If not set or len is 0 then the OSSL_HTTP_DEFAULT_MAX_RESP_LEN is used, which currently is 100 KiB. 🚧

OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_max_response_hdr_lines() changes the limit for the number of HTTP header lines allowed to be received in a response. The default limit is OSSL_HTTP_DEFAULT_MAX_RESP_HDR_LINES, currently 256. If the limit is not 0 and the number of lines exceeds the limit, then the HTTP_R_RESPONSE_TOO_MANY_HDRLINES error is indicated. Setting the limit to 0 disables the check. ✂️

OSSL_HTTP_is_alive() can be used to query if the HTTP connection given by rctx is still alive, i.e., has not been closed. It returns 0 if rctx is NULL. 💓

If the client application requested or required a persistent connection and this was granted by the server, it can keep rctx as long as it wants to send further requests and OSSL_HTTP_is_alive() returns nonzero, else it should call OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_free(rctx) or OSSL_HTTP_close(3). In case the client application keeps rctx but the connection then dies for any reason at the server side, it will notice this obtaining an I/O error when trying to send the next request via rctx. 😭

⚠️ WARNINGS ⚠️

The server's response may be unexpected if the hostname that was used to create the wbio, any "Host" header, and the host specified in the request URL do not match. 🚩

Many of these functions must be called in a certain order. 👯

First, the HTTP request context must be allocated: OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_new().

Then, the HTTP request must be prepared with request data:

  1. Calling OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_request_line().
  2. Adding extra header lines with OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_add1_header(). This is optional and may be done multiple times with different names.
  3. Finalize the request using OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set1_req(). This may be omitted if the GET method is used and "keep-alive" is not requested.

When the request context is fully prepared, the HTTP exchange may be performed with OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_nbio() or OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_exchange().

📝 NOTES 📝

When built with tracing enabled, OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_nbio() and all functions using it, such as OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_exchange() and OSSL_HTTP_transfer(3), may be traced using OSSL_TRACE_CATEGORY_HTTP. See also OSSL_trace_enabled(3) and openssl-env(7). 🔍

💖 RETURN VALUES 💖

okay bestie, here's the receipts on what every single one of these hands back to you ✨

  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_new() — gives you a pointer to a OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX, or NULL if something went wrong 😭
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_free(), OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_max_response_length(), and OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_max_response_hdr_lines() — these ones return nothing. no values, no receipts, they just do the thing 💅
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_request_line(), OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_add1_header(), OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set1_req(), and OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_expected() — return 1 for success and 0 for failure. classic binary slay 🎀
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_nbio() and OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_nbio_d2i() — return 1 for success, 0 on error or redirection, and -1 if a retry is needed 🙈
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_exchange() and OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_get0_mem_bio() — return a pointer to a BIO on success, as described above, or NULL on failure.
⚠️ bestie listen — the returned BIO must not be freed by the caller. hands off, it's not yours 💀
  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_get_resp_len() — returns the size of the response contents, or 0 if that's not available or an error happened 🌸
  • OSSL_HTTP_is_alive() — returns 1 if its argument is non-NULL and the client requested a persistent connection and the server did not disagree on keeping the connection open. otherwise? 0 🦋

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

go read these next, they're the whole friend group fr fr 🫶

👑 HISTORY 👑

the lore drop 📜

  • OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX_set_max_response_hdr_lines() was added in OpenSSL 3.3 ✨
  • All the other functions described here? added in OpenSSL 3.0. vintage, iconic, OG 💅

Copyright 2015-2026 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 a wrap on the whole page bestie, we did it 🥳 this one's from OpenSSL 3.5.9, dated 2026-09-29, and it lives at OSSL_HTTP_REQ_CTX(3ossl) — go forth and make requests, love u, mwah 💖🦋✨

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