X509V3_EXT_NCONF_NID(3SSL)

📦
version 4.0.3 · 3 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💅 X509V3_EXT_NCONF_NID — bestie edition

okay so this is a page from the OpenSSL manual, section 3SSL, and it's about X509V3_EXT_nconf and X509V3_EXT_nconf_nid — the little functions that build X.509 certificate extensions for you based on your OpenSSL configuration. sit down, grab a strawberry 🍓, we're doing crypto paperwork.

✨ NAME ✨

X509V3_EXT_nconf, X509V3_EXT_nconf_nid — functions to create X.509 certificate extensions based on OpenSSL configuration

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <openssl/x509v3.h>

X509_EXTENSION *X509V3_EXT_nconf_nid(CONF *conf, X509V3_CTX *ctx, int ext_nid,
    const char *value);
X509_EXTENSION *X509V3_EXT_nconf(CONF *conf, X509V3_CTX *ctx, const char *name,
    const char *value);

like yes, they're twins, one takes a numeric id and one takes a name 💖

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so X509V3_EXT_nconf_nid() and X509V3_EXT_nconf() both create a requested X.509 extension, no cap. the difference is literally just how you name it: one identifies the extension by name, the other by ext_nid — correspondingly. and value is the string that actually contains the stuff to encode. that's the whole job 🫶

  • conf — the configuration information, i.e. where all the additional data gets read from. conf will typically come from a config file. that's its whole lore.
  • ctx — the context. and here's the cute part: in the case when the ctx value is null, the default one gets used instead. blessed convenience ✨

👑 NOTES 👑

⚠️ real talk, bestie: normally these functions should not be called directly.

for many extensions they will not produce the expected results unless you've got a suitably configured context (that's your conf and ctx arguments, bestie) that specifies the target object, issuer data, etc. it's giving "don't skip the setup, the setup is the assignment" 💀

💖 RETURN VALUES 💖

  • X509V3_EXT_nconf() and X509V3_EXT_nconf_nid() return an X509_EXTENSION object on success 🎉
  • and NULL on failure 😭

that's it. that's the vibe check. if it's NULL, something went wrong, do not pass go.

Copyright 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 the page, angel 🎀 this was OpenSSL version 4.0.3, dated 2026-09-29, and it's the X509V3_EXT_NCONF_NID(3SSL) manual — go forth and configure your extensions responsibly, mwah 💜🧚

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