STATUS - third_party/openssl - Git at Google


   OpenSSL STATUS                           Last modified at
   ______________                           $Date: 1999/02/28 20:51:38 $

   DEVELOPMENT STATE

     o  OpenSSL 0.9.2:  Still under development.
                        Proposed freeze  time: Monday, March  8th 1999
                        Proposed release time: Monday, March 15th 1999
     o  OpenSSL 0.9.1c: Released on December 23th, 1998

   RELEASE SHOWSTOPPERS

   AVAILABLE PATCHES

     o Solaris AS error (kenji@miyake.org)
     o getenv in ca.c and x509_def.c (jaltman@watsun.cc.columbia.edu)
     o s3_lib.c - export clients (levitte@stacken.kth.se)
     o linux dynamic libs (colin@field.medicine.adelaide.edu.au)
     o MingW support (niklas@canit.se)
     o crypto/des/enc_read.c bugfix (mike@cs.mun.ca)

   IN PROGRESS

     o Steve is currently working on:
         X509 V3 extension code including:
         1. Support for the more common PKIX extensions.
         2. Proper (or at least usable) certificate chain verification.
         3. Support in standard applications (req, x509, ca).
         4. Documentation on how all the above works.
         Next on the list is probably PKCS#12 integration.

     o Mark is currently working on:
         Folding in any changes that are in the C2Net code base that were
         not in the original SSLeay-0.9.1.b release.  Plus other minor
         tidying.

     o Ralf is currently working on:
         1. Support for SSL_set_default_verify_paths(),
            SSL_load_verify_locations(), SSL_get_cert_store() and
            SSL_set_cert_store() functions which work like their existing
            SSL_CTX_xxx() variants but on a per connection basis. That's needed
            to let us provide full-featured per-URL client verification in
            mod_ssl or Apache-SSL.
         2. The perl/ stuff to make it really work the first time ;-)
         3. The new documentation set in PID format under doc/
         4. More cleanups to get rid of obsolete/old/ugly files in the
            source tree which are not really needed.

     o Ben is currently working on:
 	1. Function Prototype Thought Police issues.
 	2. Integrated documentation.
 	3. New TLS Ciphersuites.
 	4. Anything else that takes his fancy.

   NEEDS PATCH

   OPEN ISSUES

     o  The Makefile hierarchy and build mechanism is still not a round thing:

        1. The config vs. Configure scripts
           It's the same nasty situation as for Apache with APACI vs.
           src/Configure. It confuses.
           Suggestion: Merge Configure and config into a single configure
                       script with a Autoconf style interface ;-) and remove
                       Configure and config. Or even let us use GNU Autoconf
                       itself. Then we can avoid a lot of those platform checks
                       which are currently in Configure.

        2. The xxx.org -> xxx.h generation:
           It's not obvious for which file xxx.org is the source.
           Suggestion: Rename xxx.org to xxx.h.in (Autoconf style), this way
                       one sees that xxx.h.in is the input for xxx.h

           Status: Mark +1

     o  The installation under "make install" produces a very
        installation layout: $prefix/certs and $prefix/private dirs.  That's
        not nice. Ralf suggests to move the two certs and private dirs either
        to $prefix/etc/, $prefix/lib/ or $prefix/share. Alternatively
        we could also not install the certs at all.

        Status: Ralf +1 for both not installing the certs at all and
                        moving it to $prefix/etc/. +0 for $prefix/lib/
                        and $prefix/share.
                Paul: why is it not nice?
                Ralf: because it messes up the install dir when
                      $prefix is not a dedicated area like /usr/local/ssl.
                      When we move them to a standard subdir like
                      etc/ lib/ or share/ we don't mess up things
                      when $prefix is /usr or /usr/local, etc.
                      Additionally it makes package vendors life
                      easier....

     o  Support for Shared Libraries has to be added at least
        for the major Unix platforms. The details we can rip from the stuff
        Ralf has done for the Apache src/Configure script. Ben wants the
        solution to be really simple.

        Status: Ralf will look how we can easily incorporate the
                compiler PIC and linker DSO flags from Apache
                into the OpenSSL Configure script.

     o  The perl/ stuff needs a major overhaul. Currently it's
        totally obsolete. Either we clean it up and enhance it to be up-to-date
        with the C code or we also could replace it with the really nice
        Net::SSLeay package we can find under
        http://www.neuronio.pt/SSLeay.pm.html.  Ralf uses this package for a
        longer time and it works fine and is a nice Perl module. Best would be
        to convince the author to work for the OpenSSL project and create a
        Net::OpenSSL or Crypt::OpenSSL package out of it and maintains it for
        us.

        Status: Ralf thinks we should both contact the author of Net::SSLeay
                and look how much effort it is to bring Eric's perl/ stuff up
                to date.
                Paul +1

     o The EVP and ASN1 stuff is a mess. Currently you have one EVP_CIPHER
       structure for each cipher. This may make sense for things like DES but
       for variable length ciphers like RC2 and RC4 it is NBG. Need a way to
       use the EVP interface and set up the cipher parameters. The ASN1 stuff
       is also foo wrt ciphers whose AlgorithmIdentifier has more than just
       an IV in it (e.g. RC2, RC5). This also means that EVP_Seal and EVP_Open
       don't work unless the key length matches the fixed value (some vendors
       use a key length decided by the size of the RSA encrypted key and expect
       RC2 to adapt).

     o Properly initialize the PRNG in the absence of /dev/random.

     o > NO_RSA (ejs@bfd.com)
       > ./Configure -DNO_IDEA -DNO_RC5 -DNO_RC4 -DNO_RC2 -DNO_RSA -DNO_ERR linux-elf
       > I tried for a whole day to do this and could not get it to work.  Linux
       > machine, kernel 2.0.36 and 2.2.1, redhat 5.2 latest, gcc and egcs , no
       > go.  I also noticed the even with -DNO_IDEA, _DNO_RC2, etc. the make
       > still goes into those subdirectories and 'makes'.

   WISHES

     o  Damien Miller:
        "How about making the each of the locations compile-time defined. I
        would like to (for example) put binaries in /usr/bin, configuration
        data, certs and keys in /etc/openssl/certs and /etc/openssl/keys, etc.
        This would also be a great boon to binary package makers.  The
        SSLeay-0.9.1b RPM already includes some patches which do some of this.
        I can forward them if you wish."

     o  Mats Nilsson <mats.nilsson@xware.se>:
        "Add reference counting to all substructures of X509 etc. For instance,
        X509_NAME lacks a reference counter, while EVP_PKEY has one.  I'm
        making COM-wrappers for selected parts of SSLeay for a project of ours,
        and has found this inconsistency in copy semantics annoying."

	OpenSSL STATUS Last modified at
	______________ $Date: 1999/02/28 20:51:38 $

	DEVELOPMENT STATE

	o OpenSSL 0.9.2: Still under development.
	Proposed freeze time: Monday, March 8th 1999
	Proposed release time: Monday, March 15th 1999
	o OpenSSL 0.9.1c: Released on December 23th, 1998

	RELEASE SHOWSTOPPERS

	AVAILABLE PATCHES

	o Solaris AS error (kenji@miyake.org)
	o getenv in ca.c and x509_def.c (jaltman@watsun.cc.columbia.edu)
	o s3_lib.c - export clients (levitte@stacken.kth.se)
	o linux dynamic libs (colin@field.medicine.adelaide.edu.au)
	o MingW support (niklas@canit.se)
	o crypto/des/enc_read.c bugfix (mike@cs.mun.ca)

	IN PROGRESS

	o Steve is currently working on:
	X509 V3 extension code including:
	1. Support for the more common PKIX extensions.
	2. Proper (or at least usable) certificate chain verification.
	3. Support in standard applications (req, x509, ca).
	4. Documentation on how all the above works.
	Next on the list is probably PKCS#12 integration.

	o Mark is currently working on:
	Folding in any changes that are in the C2Net code base that were
	not in the original SSLeay-0.9.1.b release. Plus other minor
	tidying.

	o Ralf is currently working on:
	1. Support for SSL_set_default_verify_paths(),
	SSL_load_verify_locations(), SSL_get_cert_store() and
	SSL_set_cert_store() functions which work like their existing
	SSL_CTX_xxx() variants but on a per connection basis. That's needed
	to let us provide full-featured per-URL client verification in
	mod_ssl or Apache-SSL.
	2. The perl/ stuff to make it really work the first time ;-)
	3. The new documentation set in PID format under doc/
	4. More cleanups to get rid of obsolete/old/ugly files in the
	source tree which are not really needed.

	o Ben is currently working on:
	1. Function Prototype Thought Police issues.
	2. Integrated documentation.
	3. New TLS Ciphersuites.
	4. Anything else that takes his fancy.

	NEEDS PATCH

	OPEN ISSUES

	o The Makefile hierarchy and build mechanism is still not a round thing:

	1. The config vs. Configure scripts
	It's the same nasty situation as for Apache with APACI vs.
	src/Configure. It confuses.
	Suggestion: Merge Configure and config into a single configure
	script with a Autoconf style interface ;-) and remove
	Configure and config. Or even let us use GNU Autoconf
	itself. Then we can avoid a lot of those platform checks
	which are currently in Configure.

	2. The xxx.org -> xxx.h generation:
	It's not obvious for which file xxx.org is the source.
	Suggestion: Rename xxx.org to xxx.h.in (Autoconf style), this way
	one sees that xxx.h.in is the input for xxx.h

	Status: Mark +1

	o The installation under "make install" produces a very
	installation layout: $prefix/certs and $prefix/private dirs. That's
	not nice. Ralf suggests to move the two certs and private dirs either
	to $prefix/etc/, $prefix/lib/ or $prefix/share. Alternatively
	we could also not install the certs at all.

	Status: Ralf +1 for both not installing the certs at all and
	moving it to $prefix/etc/. +0 for $prefix/lib/
	and $prefix/share.
	Paul: why is it not nice?
	Ralf: because it messes up the install dir when
	$prefix is not a dedicated area like /usr/local/ssl.
	When we move them to a standard subdir like
	etc/ lib/ or share/ we don't mess up things
	when $prefix is /usr or /usr/local, etc.
	Additionally it makes package vendors life
	easier....

	o Support for Shared Libraries has to be added at least
	for the major Unix platforms. The details we can rip from the stuff
	Ralf has done for the Apache src/Configure script. Ben wants the
	solution to be really simple.

	Status: Ralf will look how we can easily incorporate the
	compiler PIC and linker DSO flags from Apache
	into the OpenSSL Configure script.

	o The perl/ stuff needs a major overhaul. Currently it's
	totally obsolete. Either we clean it up and enhance it to be up-to-date
	with the C code or we also could replace it with the really nice
	Net::SSLeay package we can find under
	http://www.neuronio.pt/SSLeay.pm.html. Ralf uses this package for a
	longer time and it works fine and is a nice Perl module. Best would be
	to convince the author to work for the OpenSSL project and create a
	Net::OpenSSL or Crypt::OpenSSL package out of it and maintains it for
	us.

	Status: Ralf thinks we should both contact the author of Net::SSLeay
	and look how much effort it is to bring Eric's perl/ stuff up
	to date.
	Paul +1

	o The EVP and ASN1 stuff is a mess. Currently you have one EVP_CIPHER
	structure for each cipher. This may make sense for things like DES but
	for variable length ciphers like RC2 and RC4 it is NBG. Need a way to
	use the EVP interface and set up the cipher parameters. The ASN1 stuff
	is also foo wrt ciphers whose AlgorithmIdentifier has more than just
	an IV in it (e.g. RC2, RC5). This also means that EVP_Seal and EVP_Open
	don't work unless the key length matches the fixed value (some vendors
	use a key length decided by the size of the RSA encrypted key and expect
	RC2 to adapt).

	o Properly initialize the PRNG in the absence of /dev/random.

	o > NO_RSA (ejs@bfd.com)
	> ./Configure -DNO_IDEA -DNO_RC5 -DNO_RC4 -DNO_RC2 -DNO_RSA -DNO_ERR linux-elf
	> I tried for a whole day to do this and could not get it to work. Linux
	> machine, kernel 2.0.36 and 2.2.1, redhat 5.2 latest, gcc and egcs , no
	> go. I also noticed the even with -DNO_IDEA, _DNO_RC2, etc. the make
	> still goes into those subdirectories and 'makes'.

	WISHES

	o Damien Miller:
	"How about making the each of the locations compile-time defined. I
	would like to (for example) put binaries in /usr/bin, configuration
	data, certs and keys in /etc/openssl/certs and /etc/openssl/keys, etc.
	This would also be a great boon to binary package makers. The
	SSLeay-0.9.1b RPM already includes some patches which do some of this.
	I can forward them if you wish."

	o Mats Nilsson <mats.nilsson@xware.se>:
	"Add reference counting to all substructures of X509 etc. For instance,
	X509_NAME lacks a reference counter, while EVP_PKEY has one. I'm
	making COM-wrappers for selected parts of SSLeay for a project of ours,
	and has found this inconsistency in copy semantics annoying."