ASN1_NULL_NEW(3)

💅 ASN1_NULL_NEW(3) — Library Functions Manual 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

ASN1_NULL_new, ASN1_NULL_free — the ASN.1 NULL value, bestie 💖

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <openssl/asn1.h>

ASN1_NULL *
ASN1_NULL_new(void);

void
ASN1_NULL_free(ASN1_NULL *val_in);

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

Okay so ASN1_NULL_new() is lowkey iconic: it returns a specific invalid pointer that represents the ASN.1 NULL value. That is the only possible value of the ASN.1 NULL type, periodt. That pointer is different from a NULL pointer. Dereferencing it almost certainly results in a segmentation fault — so, like, don’t do that, bestie. 💀 This function does not allocate memory and cannot fail. Slay.

⚠️ Real talk: that invalid pointer is not a normal pointer. Dereferencing it almost certainly results in a segmentation fault.

ASN1_NULL_free() has no effect whatsoever. Like, none. In particular, it ignores the val_in argument and does not free any memory. In normal use, application programs only pass the invalid pointer obtained from ASN1_NULL_new() to this function. But even if a valid pointer is passed, that pointer does not become invalid. No cap. 🦋

The ASN.1 NULL type is also represented by the V_ASN1_NULL type identifier constant.

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• ASN1_item_new(3)
• d2i_ASN1_NULL(3)

⭐ STANDARDS ⭐

ITU-T Recommendation X.208, also known as ISO/IEC 8824-1: Specification of Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1), section 19: Notation for the null type

👑 HISTORY 👑

ASN1_NULL_new() and ASN1_NULL_free() first appeared in OpenSSL 0.9.5 and have been available since OpenBSD 2.7.

Okay bye bestie 💖 this page is from Debian, dated December 9, 2021, and the manual page is ASN1_NULL_NEW(3) — mwah 💅✨