OSSL_STORE_OPEN(3ossl)

📦

version 3.5.9 · 8 versions

3.5.9 · fedora 43, fedora 44 (latest)
3.5.9 · centos-stream 9
3.5.9 · centos-stream 10
3.5.9 · alpine 3.22
3.5.9 · alpine 3.23, alpine 3.24
3.5.8 · fedora 43
3.5.1 · fedora 43
3.5.5 · fedora 44

💖 OSSL_STORE_OPEN 💖

okay bestie, so this is the OpenSSL page for OSSL_STORE_OPEN(3ossl) — yes the manpage literally goes by OSSL_STORE_OPEN even though it's a whole squad of types and functions. it's giving ensemble cast energy 👑 we're talking OSSL_STORE_CTX, OSSL_STORE_post_process_info_fn, OSSL_STORE_open, OSSL_STORE_open_ex, OSSL_STORE_ctrl, OSSL_STORE_load, OSSL_STORE_eof, OSSL_STORE_delete, OSSL_STORE_error and OSSL_STORE_close — all here to read objects from a URI. no cap. ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

OSSL_STORE_CTX, OSSL_STORE_post_process_info_fn, OSSL_STORE_open, OSSL_STORE_open_ex, OSSL_STORE_ctrl, OSSL_STORE_load, OSSL_STORE_eof, OSSL_STORE_delete, OSSL_STORE_error, OSSL_STORE_close — types and functions to read objects from a URI. that's the whole vibe. 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <openssl/store.h>

typedef struct ossl_store_ctx_st OSSL_STORE_CTX;

typedef OSSL_STORE_INFO *(*OSSL_STORE_post_process_info_fn)(OSSL_STORE_INFO *,
                                                            void *);

OSSL_STORE_CTX *OSSL_STORE_open(const char *uri, const UI_METHOD *ui_method,
                                void *ui_data,
                                OSSL_STORE_post_process_info_fn post_process,
                                void *post_process_data);
OSSL_STORE_CTX *
OSSL_STORE_open_ex(const char *uri, OSSL_LIB_CTX *libctx, const char *propq,
                   const UI_METHOD *ui_method, void *ui_data,
                   const OSSL_PARAM params[],
                   OSSL_STORE_post_process_info_fn post_process,
                   void *post_process_data);

OSSL_STORE_INFO *OSSL_STORE_load(OSSL_STORE_CTX *ctx);
int OSSL_STORE_eof(OSSL_STORE_CTX *ctx);
int OSSL_STORE_delete(const char *uri, OSSL_LIB_CTX *libctx, const char *propq,
                      const UI_METHOD *ui_method, void *ui_data,
                      const OSSL_PARAM params[]);
int OSSL_STORE_error(OSSL_STORE_CTX *ctx);
int OSSL_STORE_close(OSSL_STORE_CTX *ctx);

and now the deprecated one, bestie. the following function has been deprecated since OpenSSL 3.0, and it can be hidden entirely by defining OPENSSL_API_COMPAT with a suitable version value, see openssl_user_macros(7):

int OSSL_STORE_ctrl(OSSL_STORE_CTX *ctx, int cmd, ... /* args */);

heads up: OSSL_STORE_ctrl is deprecated fr fr. if you set OPENSSL_API_COMPAT to the right version it just... vanishes. poof. 💀

🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

so here's the tea: these functions help the application fetch supported objects — and if you wanna know which objects count as supported, go peek at "SUPPORTED OBJECTS" in OSSL_STORE_INFO(3) — from a given URI. 🎀

the general method is a whole little ritual, and it goes like this:

"open" the URI using OSSL_STORE_open()
read each available and supported object using OSSL_STORE_load() — keep going as long as OSSL_STORE_eof() hasn't been reached
finish it off with OSSL_STORE_close()

and everything you retrieved lives inside an OSSL_STORE_INFO, which gets further described in OSSL_STORE_INFO(3). 💅

🧚 Types

OSSL_STORE_CTX is a context variable that holds all the internal information for OSSL_STORE_open(), OSSL_STORE_open_ex(), OSSL_STORE_load(), OSSL_STORE_eof() and OSSL_STORE_close() to work together. it's the group chat they all share. main character energy, honestly. 👑

🎀 Functions

OSSL_STORE_open_ex() — takes a uri or path uri, password UI method ui_method with associated data ui_data, and post processing callback post_process with associated data post_process_data, a library context libctx with an associated property query propq, and opens a channel to the data located at the URI. returns an OSSL_STORE_CTX with all necessary internal information. the given ui_method and ui_data get reused by all functions that use OSSL_STORE_CTX when interaction is needed — for instance to provide a password. the auxiliary OSSL_PARAM(3) parameters in params can be set to further modify the store operation. the given post_process and post_process_data get reused by OSSL_STORE_load() to manipulate or drop the value to be returned. and here's the fun part: the post_process function drops values by returning NULL, which causes OSSL_STORE_load() to start its process over with loading the next object — over and over — until post_process returns something other than NULL, or the end of data is reached as indicated by OSSL_STORE_eof(). iconic little loop. 🔁
OSSL_STORE_open() — similar to OSSL_STORE_open_ex() but uses NULL for the params, the library context libctx and property query propq. the low-effort version, and honestly? valid. 🫶
OSSL_STORE_ctrl() — takes an OSSL_STORE_CTX, and command number cmd and more arguments not specified here. the available loader specific command numbers and the arguments they each take depends on the loader that's used, and is documented together with that loader. iykyk. 📚

there are also global controls available:

OSSL_STORE_C_USE_SECMEM — controls if the loader should attempt to use secure memory for any allocated OSSL_STORE_INFO and its contents. this control expects one argument, a pointer to an int that is expected to have the value 1 (yes) or 0 (no). any other value is an error. so like... 1 or 0, bestie. don't get cute with it. 🙈
OSSL_STORE_load() — takes an OSSL_STORE_CTX and tries to load the next available object and return it wrapped with OSSL_STORE_INFO. 💖
OSSL_STORE_delete() — deletes the object identified by uri. bye bye object 👋
OSSL_STORE_eof() — takes an OSSL_STORE_CTX and checks if we've reached the end of data. are we there yet? 🤔
OSSL_STORE_error() — takes an OSSL_STORE_CTX and checks if an error occurred in the last OSSL_STORE_load() call. note: it may still be meaningful to try and load more objects, unless OSSL_STORE_eof() shows that the end of data has been reached. so don't panic-quit on the first oopsie. 😭
OSSL_STORE_close() — takes an OSSL_STORE_CTX, closes the channel that was opened by OSSL_STORE_open() and frees all other information that was stored in the OSSL_STORE_CTX, as well as the OSSL_STORE_CTX itself. if ctx is NULL it does nothing. graceful exit, no drama. 💅

💜 NOTES 💜

a string without a scheme prefix (that is, a non-URI string) is implicitly interpreted as using the file: scheme. sneaky but convenient. 🍓

there are some tools that can be used together with OSSL_STORE_open() to determine if any failure is caused by an unparsable URI, or if it's a different error (such as memory allocation failures); if the URI was parsable but the scheme unregistered, the top error will have the reason "OSSL_STORE_R_UNREGISTERED_SCHEME". write that down. 📝

these functions make no direct assumption regarding the pass phrase received from the password callback. the loaders may make assumptions, however. for example, the file: scheme loader inherits the assumptions made by OpenSSL functionality that handles the different file types; this is mostly relevant for PKCS#12 objects. see passphrase-encoding(7) for further information. 🔥

💀 RETURN VALUES 💀

OSSL_STORE_open() — returns a pointer to an OSSL_STORE_CTX on success, or NULL on failure.
OSSL_STORE_load() — returns a pointer to an OSSL_STORE_INFO on success, or NULL on error or when end of data is reached. use OSSL_STORE_error() and OSSL_STORE_eof() to determine the meaning of a returned NULL. don't just assume, bestie, go ask. 🙏
OSSL_STORE_eof() — returns 1 if the end of data has been reached or an error occurred, 0 otherwise.
OSSL_STORE_error() — returns 1 if an error occurred in an OSSL_STORE_load() call, otherwise 0.
OSSL_STORE_delete(), OSSL_STORE_ctrl() and OSSL_STORE_close() — return 1 on success, or 0 on failure.

⭐ HISTORY ⭐

OSSL_STORE_delete() was added in OpenSSL 3.2.
OSSL_STORE_open_ex() was added in OpenSSL 3.0.
OSSL_STORE_CTX, OSSL_STORE_post_process_info_fn(), OSSL_STORE_open(), OSSL_STORE_ctrl(), OSSL_STORE_load(), OSSL_STORE_eof() and OSSL_STORE_close() were added in OpenSSL 1.1.1.
handling of NULL ctx argument for OSSL_STORE_close() was introduced in OpenSSL 1.1.1h.
OSSL_STORE_ctrl() and OSSL_STORE_vctrl() were deprecated in OpenSSL 3.0.

👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

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 OpenSSL 3.5.9, dated 2026-09-29, and it's the OSSL_STORE_OPEN(3ossl) manual — go read some objects from a URI, you absolute legend. mwah. 💖🦋🌸

📦 where this page comes from

fedora 43: openssl-devel 1:3.5.9-1.fc43 · Apache-2.0
fedora 43: openssl-devel 1:3.5.9-1.fc43 · Apache-2.0
fedora 44: openssl-devel 1:3.5.9-1.fc44 · Apache-2.0
fedora 44: openssl-devel 1:3.5.9-1.fc44 · Apache-2.0
💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash on 2026-10-14: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms