PKCS12_INIT(3SSL)

📦
version 4.0.3 · 13 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

✨ PKCS12_INIT(3SSL) — the OpenSSL one, bestie ✨

okay so you're in the OpenSSL section 3 manual, subsection SSL, and today's episode is all about PKCS12_init and PKCS12_init_ex — the little functions that make a brand new, totally empty PKCS#12 structure. no cap. 💖

🌸 NAME 🌸

PKCS12_init, PKCS12_init_ex — create a new empty PKCS#12 structure 🎀

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

#include <openssl/pkcs12.h>

PKCS12 *PKCS12_init(int mode);
PKCS12 *PKCS12_init_ex(int mode, OSSL_LIB_CTX *ctx, const char *propq);

like literally just include the header and you're so back 💅

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so PKCS12_init() creates an empty PKCS#12 structure. that's it, that's the job, and it ate. 🫶

here's the tea though: any PKCS#7 authSafes you add to this structure get enclosed first within a single PKCS#7 contentInfo of type mode. and rn the only supported type is NID_pkcs7_data. that's the whole menu, bestie, no secret options. 🌈

then there's PKCS12_init_ex() — it creates an empty PKCS#12 structure too, but it also assigns the supplied ctx and propq to be used to select algorithm implementations for operations performed on the PKCS12 object. so it's the main character version with extra vibes. 👑

🙈 RETURN VALUES 🙈

PKCS12_init() and PKCS12_init_ex() return a valid PKCS12 structure, or NULL if an error occurred. 😭

so like… check for NULL, okay? please. for me. 🥺

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

iykyk, go read those next 📚✨

⭐ HISTORY ⭐

PKCS12_init_ex() was added in OpenSSL 3.0. so if you're on something older, bestie, she is not there. 💀

Copyright 2021 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 PKCS12_INIT(3SSL) from OpenSSL version 4.0.3, dated 2026-09-29 — mwah, go write some safe code, bestie 🎀🦋💖

📦 where this page comes from