crypto_akcip...set_priv_key(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💖 crypto_akcipher_set_priv_key — the manual, but make it make sense 💖

okay bestie so you found yourself in the kernel crypto section, section 9 of the manual, and the page you're on is literally crypto_akcip...set_priv_key(9) ✨ yes the title got truncated, she's mysterious like that. anyway. this one's about handing a private key to an akcipher transform. it's giving "trust me bro, the algorithm knows what to do with it." let's go 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

crypto_akcipher_set_priv_key — invoke the set private key operation 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

int crypto_akcipher_set_priv_key (struct crypto_akcipher *tfm , const
void *key , unsigned int keylen );

🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

  • tfm — the tfm handle 🦋 like, your transform object, the main character of this whole call
  • key — a BER encoded private key, then the algo OID, then paramlen, then the BER encoded parameters. yes all of it, in that order, one blob, no cap 🙈
  • keylen — the length of the key. and bestie, listen: this is not including other data ⭐ so don't be out here counting the OID and params in this number

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so what this function actually does: it invokes the algorithm specific set key function 👑 and that per-algorithm function is the one that knows how to decode and interpret the encoded key and the parameters. it's literally passing the vibes down to the specialist. iykyk 💫

🌈 RETURN 🌈

  • zero on success 🎉 slay
  • an error code in case of error 💀 that's it, that's the deal

🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

kernel file ./include/crypto/akcipher.h, plus the whole friend group:

lowkey a reminder that key is BER encoded — the decoding is the algorithm's whole job, not yours. you're just the messenger 🧚‍♀️

and that's the page, bestie!! 🎀 sign-off time: this lil beauty lives in ./include/crypto, dated October 2026, and answers to the name crypto_akcip...set_priv_key(9) — periodt 💅💖

📦 where this page comes from