SSL

[Ng Pheng Siong]

On Thu, Jul 10, 2003 at 12:04:33PM +0100, Jill.Ramonsky at Aculab.com wrote:
> guess). However, the complexity of the OpenSSL library has me stumped.
> (Plus, it's Unix-centric. I'd like to turn it into a Visual Studio port so I
> could compile without needing cygwin, gcc, etc., but that's another story).

It isn't really. I have built OpenSSL using MSVC, BC and mingw.

I have a file here called openssl-0_9_7_Patch_VisualStudio6.zip culled from
the OpenSSL mailing list. I haven't tried it; if you want, I can send it to
you off-list.

> I'm not going to complain. That's been done to death here. Instead, I have a
> different question: Where can I learn about SSL?

I always suggest learning by doing. The OpenSSL C API is quite big, but
there exists wrappers in Perl, Python, Tcl, Ruby, Lisp and possibly
whatever high-level language you can think of. (I have one; see .sig.)
These makes programming OpenSSL more accessible.

While your test programs are running, use ekr's excellent ssldump to see
the stuff happening on the wire.

There is also a book called SSL and TLS Essentials by Stephen Thomas that
just describes the protocol. Refer to the book while you're running your
programs and marveling at ssldump's output.

Have fun.

-- 
Ng Pheng Siong <ngps at netmemetic.com> 

http://firewall.rulemaker.net  -+- Manage Your Firewall Rulebase Changes
http://www.post1.com/home/ngps -+- Open Source Python Crypto & SSL

---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cryptography Mailing List
Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo at metzdowd.com