OSSL_STORE-FILE(7ossl)

📦
version 3.5.9 · 8 versions
, in alpine 3.23, alpine 3.24

💾 OSSL_STORE-FILE(7ossl) — the store 'file' scheme loader

okay bestie, welcome to the manual page for ossl_store-file, section 7ossl of the OpenSSL docs ✨ this is the whole vibe on the 'file' scheme loader, and honestly? it's giving "quietly doing a lot of work behind the scenes." 🫶

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <openssl/store.h>

that's it. that's the whole include. slay. 💅

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

So the 'file' scheme is built right into "libcrypto" — no extra vibes needed, it's already there. 🎀

But here's the thing: files come in all kinds of formats and content types, right? So the 'file' scheme has its own whole layer of functionality called "file handlers", and these little icons are what try to decode the diverse types of file contents. 🧚

Now, if a file is formatted as PEM, each file handler that gets called receives:

  • the PEM name — literally everything following any "-----BEGIN " 👑
  • any possible PEM headers
  • the decoded PEM body

and because PEM formatted files can contain more than one object (yes, plural, she's multi-talented 💅), the file handlers get called upon for each such object.

If the file isn't determined to be formatted as PEM though? Then the content is loaded in raw form, in its entirety, and passed to the available file handlers as-is — with no PEM name and no headers. just raw. unbothered. 💀

Each file handler is expected to handle PEM and non-PEM content as appropriate. Some of them might refuse non-PEM content for the sake of determinism — and honestly, fair. Example: there are keys out in the wild that are represented as an ASN.1 OCTET STRING. In raw form, it's genuinely not easily possible to distinguish those from any other data coming as an ASN.1 OCTET STRING, so those keys would naturally be accepted as PEM files only. no cap. 🔥

🦋 NOTES 🦋

When it's needed, the 'file' scheme loader will require a pass phrase by using the UI_METHOD that was passed via OSSL_STORE_open(). ⭐

That pass phrase is expected to be UTF-8 encoded — anything else will give an undefined result. 😭 like, not "weird result," genuinely undefined, so please don't.

The files made accessible through this loader are expected to be standard compliant with regards to pass phrase encoding. Files that aren't? They should be re-generated with a correctly encoded pass phrase. simple as that. 💖

See passphrase-encoding(7) for more information. iykyk.

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

Copyright 2018 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, bestie 🎀 sign-off time: this was version 3.5.9, dated 2026-09-29, and the page itself is OSSL_STORE-FILE(7ossl) — go forth and load those files 💜

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