OSSL_ENCODER(3SSL)

📦
version 4.0.3 · 13 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 OSSL_ENCODER — the encoder method routines, bestie 💖

okay so this is a page from the OpenSSL manual (section 3SSL, the library calls), and it's literally all about OSSL_ENCODER and its little friend group: OSSL_ENCODER_fetch, OSSL_ENCODER_up_ref, OSSL_ENCODER_free, OSSL_ENCODER_get0_provider, OSSL_ENCODER_get0_properties, OSSL_ENCODER_is_a, OSSL_ENCODER_get0_name, OSSL_ENCODER_get0_description, OSSL_ENCODER_do_all_provided, OSSL_ENCODER_names_do_all, OSSL_ENCODER_gettable_params, and OSSL_ENCODER_get_params. The whole squad is collectively known as the Encoder method routines ✨

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <openssl/encoder.h>

typedef struct ossl_encoder_st OSSL_ENCODER;

OSSL_ENCODER *OSSL_ENCODER_fetch(OSSL_LIB_CTX *ctx, const char *name,
                                 const char *properties);
int OSSL_ENCODER_up_ref(OSSL_ENCODER *encoder);
void OSSL_ENCODER_free(OSSL_ENCODER *encoder);
const OSSL_PROVIDER *OSSL_ENCODER_get0_provider(const OSSL_ENCODER *encoder);
const char *OSSL_ENCODER_get0_properties(const OSSL_ENCODER *encoder);
int OSSL_ENCODER_is_a(const OSSL_ENCODER *encoder, const char *name);
const char *OSSL_ENCODER_get0_name(const OSSL_ENCODER *encoder);
const char *OSSL_ENCODER_get0_description(const OSSL_ENCODER *encoder);
void OSSL_ENCODER_do_all_provided(OSSL_LIB_CTX *libctx,
                                  void (*fn)(OSSL_ENCODER *encoder, void *arg),
                                  void *arg);
int OSSL_ENCODER_names_do_all(const OSSL_ENCODER *encoder,
                              void (*fn)(const char *name, void *data),
                              void *data);
const OSSL_PARAM *OSSL_ENCODER_gettable_params(OSSL_ENCODER *encoder);
int OSSL_ENCODER_get_params(OSSL_ENCODER_CTX *ctx, const OSSL_PARAM params[]);

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So OSSL_ENCODER is a method, and its whole personality is being an encoder — like, it knows how to take an object of some kind and encode it into an encoded form. Think PEM, DER, or even just plain human readable text. Slay, honestly. 💅

OSSL_ENCODER_fetch() goes looking for an algorithm inside the provider that's been loaded into the OSSL_LIB_CTX you passed as ctx, matching the name you gave it and the properties you gave it. The name decides what type of object the fetched encoder method is expected to be able to encode, and the properties are what determine the expected output type. And bestie, if you wanna know the known properties and the values they can have, go peek at "Names and properties" over in provider-encoder(7). iykyk 🔥

OSSL_ENCODER_up_ref() bumps the reference count for the given encoder ⬆️

OSSL_ENCODER_free() drops the reference count for the given encoder, and when that count hits zero it frees it. And if the argument is NULL? Nothing happens. No drama. 🫶

OSSL_ENCODER_get0_provider() hands you back the provider of the given encoder.

OSSL_ENCODER_get0_properties() hands you back the property definition associated with the given encoder.

OSSL_ENCODER_is_a() vibe-checks whether encoder is an implementation of an algorithm that's identifiable with name.

OSSL_ENCODER_get0_name() returns the name that was used to fetch the given encoder.

OSSL_ENCODER_get0_description() returns a description of the loader 💀 — yeah it literally says loader, that's what the page says, and no I will not be editing the source material — and it's meant for display and human consumption. The description is at the discretion of the loader implementation. Main character energy, honestly 👑

OSSL_ENCODER_names_do_all() walks through all the names for the given encoder, and calls fn with each name and data as arguments. A little tour 🌈

OSSL_ENCODER_do_all_provided() walks through all encoder implementations from all activated providers in the library context libctx, and for each one of those implementations it calls fn with the implementation method and arg as arguments. Full sweep, no skips ✨

OSSL_ENCODER_gettable_params() returns an OSSL_PARAM(3) array of parameter descriptors.

OSSL_ENCODER_get_params() attempts to get parameters specified with an OSSL_PARAM(3) array params. And any parameters the implementation doesn't recognise? Those should just be ignored. Rude of them but okay 😭

💜 RETURN VALUES 💜

  • OSSL_ENCODER_fetch() returns a pointer to the key management implementation represented by an OSSL_ENCODER object, or NULL on error.
  • OSSL_ENCODER_up_ref() returns 1 on success, or 0 on error.
  • OSSL_ENCODER_free() doesn't return any value. It's giving void 🫥
  • OSSL_ENCODER_get0_provider() returns a pointer to a provider object, or NULL on error.
  • OSSL_ENCODER_get0_properties() returns a pointer to a property definition string, or NULL on error.
  • OSSL_ENCODER_is_a() returns 1 of encoder was identifiable, otherwise 0. (Yes, "of". The original said it, I'm keeping it, fr fr 🫶)
  • OSSL_ENCODER_get0_name() returns the algorithm name from the provided implementation for the given encoder. Heads up though — note that the encoder may have multiple synonyms associated with it. In that case, the first name from the algorithm definition is the one that gets returned. Ownership of the returned string is retained by the encoder object and it should not be freed by the caller. Do not free it. Not yours. Leave it 💀
  • OSSL_ENCODER_get0_description() returns a pointer to a description, or NULL if there isn't one.
  • OSSL_ENCODER_names_do_all() returns 1 if the callback was called for all names. A return value of 0 means that the callback was not called for any names.
no cap: that last one is a little sneaky — 0 doesn't mean "called for some names", it means "not called for any names". Read it twice. 🎀

🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

Go read these next, bestie, they're the rest of the lore:

🦋 HISTORY 🦋

The functions described here were added in OpenSSL 3.0. So iconic, so recent, so 3.0 💅

Copyright 2019-2024 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, periodt 💖✨

This was OSSL_ENCODER(3SSL) from the OpenSSL docs — version 4.0.3, dated 2026-09-29. Obsessed with her, honestly. bye bestie 🎀🫶

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