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Anonymous

Member
384

May 6th 2012, 12:23:18

The ugly truth must be exposed...
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Why does openssl have such terrible documentation on their API?
I have googled about to try and find a more comprehensive and more manageable documentation but have come up empty. Anyone know a decent source to get a better look at the api, preferably something with links off of all of the c api functions.

I am really shocked at this being 2012 and having a documentation that can't even give direct links. Not to mention all of the missing documentation (or at least no links) for functions. It gets tiresome being forced to read the source code or google every function call to see what it actually does and how to use it.

I will award 2 internets per useful answer. Or if you want a lazy player to all-x or war but likely not be on enough to stonewall, in your tag for a set that too can be arranged.

Dibs Ludicrous Game profile

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6702

May 6th 2012, 12:26:12

because it's open source code and most of the programmers using it read the code?
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Anonymous

Member
384

May 6th 2012, 12:28:05

pfft that's no excuse at all, many if not most of the open source projects I have ever looked at that provided an API had decent documentation for that API.

That is not to say they all had great documentation, but merely had adequate API documentation.

Also it's not as if openssl is new or somehow rare, it's used so often it's basically the standard I believe.

Dibs Ludicrous Game profile

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6702

May 6th 2012, 12:44:38

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Anonymous

Member
384

May 6th 2012, 12:57:21

That is somewhat helpful they have a few resources that offer a bit more insight. Thanks.
BUT

It still does not give an actual API function list or much information I need. Just the basics which are ofcourse useful because so few examples exist. The SSLeay documentation would have been somewhat helpful I bet, but the link is dead.

The sad part is that the openssl library is filled with fairly useful stuff and all written somewhat efficiently, but the documentation is just so poor. A good example is Base64 Encoding and Decoding. Never knew it was included until I already had made my own.

Anonymous

Member
384

May 6th 2012, 14:40:47

For anyone that had interest or that was tricked into entering by deception <EVIL LAUGH> I found a slightly better resource.

Whole TOC - Juicy useful stuff is at the bottom
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/...al/ba554_90007/index.html

SSL API
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/...nal/ba554_90007/rn03.html

Crypto API
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/...nal/ba554_90007/rn02.html

Structures
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/...inal/ba554_90007/apa.html

Etc and new additions
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/...inal/ba554_90007/apb.html

Since I know we have a number of programmers floating around, maybe someone else that contemplated suicide dealing with the inadequacies of the official documentation will find this useful.

In addition I wouldn't waste time reading on their mailing list. It like their documentation doesn't appear to be where the action is.

Edited By: Anonymous on May 6th 2012, 14:52:57
See Original Post