README - Net::SSLeay Perl module for using OpenSSL
25.9.2001, Sampo Kellomaki <sampo@iki.fi>
Version: 1.09
$Id: README,v 1.4 2001/09/28 20:24:11 sampo Exp $
1.09: added many utlility functions of OpenSSL API, better old perl support
1.08: 64 bit fixes, windows fixes, fixed extra newline with auth bug
1.07: added rudimentary TLSv1 support by Stephen C. Koehler
1.06: fixed ssl_read_all() bug where input '0' would cause loop to exit
1.05: fixed certificate gen at make test
1.04: overhaul for OpenSSL-0.9.3b (try http://www.openssl.org/)
By popular demand...
--------------------
perl -e 'use Net::SSLeay; \
($p)=Net::SSLeay::get_https("www.openssl.org", 443, "/"); print $p'
Prerequisites
-------------
perl-5.6.0
though anything starting from perl5.002 probably works.
OpenSSL-0.9.6b
(try http://www.openssl.org/) - nothing
earlier works. This release has been tested with 0.9.6b and
in historical light it seems likely that future versions
will work as well (if major version number changes all bets
are off, though)
Note: SSLeay is no longer supported. If you want to use Net::SSLeay with
SSLeay or early versions of OpenSSL, use version 1.03. The support
for SSLeay was dropped due to nobody maintaining it (all active
work goes on with OpenSSL) and due to incompatible API changes
in OpenSSL-0.9.2b. OpenSSL-0.9.1c support has also been dropped,
version 1.03 was the last one to support that.
Installing
----------
Unix:
# build OpenSSL as per instructions in that package
gunzip <Net_SSLeay.pm-1.06.tar.gz | tar xvf -
cd Net_SSLeay.pm-1.06
./Makefile.PL -t # builds and tests it
make install # You probably have to su to root to do this
perldoc Net::SSLeay # optional, but highly recommended
perldoc Net::SSLeay::Handle
Windows:
You need to get MS VC++ 6.0 Enterprise Edition. Nobody has
reported building using CygWin, although I suspect the
Unix instructions are pretty close.
Add:
d:\openssl
d:\openssl\bin
d:\openssl\lib
d:\openssl\include
d:\openssl\include\openssl
to system's environment PATH, assuming you installed your openssl
in d:\openssl. YMMV
perl Makefile.PL -windows D:\OpenSSL
where the last argument specifies where you installed your openssl.
The -windows flag tries to set up libraries correctly. If it
does not work, please tweak Makefile.PL and submit me a patch.
nmake
nmake install
*** windows details are still being worked out. If you manage
to compile this with different development environments under
Win32, please mail the diffs/success reports to me at sampo@iki.fi
The current incarnation of Windows tweaks was contributed by
Eric A Selber <eselber@briefcase.com>
You should also be able to use CPAN.pm to install this module if you like.
Linking with RSAref is no longer supported (the patent issue is moot
doe to patent expiring). If you want to try it, you are on your own,
but here's how it used to work...
For linking against RSAref add -rsaref flag like this:
./Makefile.PL -rsaref -t # builds and tests it, link against RSAref
You must previously have built OpenSSL with RSAref support (which
implies first building rsaref itself), I use the RSAglue method. File
librsaref.a must be found in one of the locations searched by linker
(-L switches). Usually this means that you have to rename rsaref.a to
librsaref.a and copy it to suitable directory, e.g. /usr/local/ssl/lib.
N.B. AFAIK the patent that made using RSAref necessary has expired, so
this should be nonissue by now.
Problems (read this before sending mail)
----------------------------------------
Please, do not send bug report before you have
- compiled your OpenSSL yourself - don't copy binaries, please
- compiled your perl yourself and with substantially same CFLAGS
and same c compiler (say `which cc' or `which gcc' as your OpenSSL.
This is especially applicable to link errors and shared
library loading problems. Please do not even dream of
copying a perl binary or installing perl binary from a package.
Perl's idea of calling conventions has to match OpenSSL's and
unfortunately both are quite advanced pieces of code
(guru duel: Larry Wall vs. Eric Young :-) with dynamic loading
and who knows what
- compiled my module from source against correct perl (say `which perl'
and check your path). Generally my module's build process will
discover correct compiler and flags from `perl -V'
- tried gcc, if your vendor cc fails
If you send me a question or make a bug report, please remeber to mention
- Your platform and OS version (i386 Linux, Sparc Solaris, etc) (uname -a)
- On Linux, please report glibc version as well
- Net::SSLeay version
- OpenSSL version (`/usr/local/ssl/bin/openssl version')
- ANSI C compiler brand and version (gcc -v)
If build fails,
- three compiler warnings are known to be emitted (due to lack of const
in some places), one of them indicates a fatal bug in callback handling,
but as I have not yet sorted it out, you'll simply have to ignore it
- if you installed OpenSSL from some distribution, try getting a fresh
copy from www.openssl.org and recompiling and installing it yourself
- make sure you are not being confused by the fact that OpenSSL-0.9.3
changed the location of include files to /usr/local/ssl/include/openssl/*
Consider deleting all old bogus headers
- if using newer than supported OpenSSL, please downgrade to supported
version to see if it makes difference
- you must compile the module, perl, and openssl with the same compiler
and the same options. Use perl -V to check what options were used and
recompile openssl and my module accordingly
- never report bugs related to binary installs. First compile _yourself_
perl, openssl and my module, always using the same compiler and
compiler flags. Many distros are known to "know better" and thus
cause problems for their users. I'm not very sympathetic to having
to answer end user questions thus created.
- send full output of `make clean; perl Makefile.PL -t'
If make test fails, please
- one warning is known to be emitted between tests 4 and 5 (callback)
- edit test.pl and set $trace=2
- send full output of `make clean; perl Makefile.PL -t'
- send contents of sslecho.log
If you have problems with a site, please
- what site, what server software
- does it reproduce with s_client, try with something like
echo 'GET /' | /usr/local/ssl/bin/openssl s_client -connect www.bacus.pt:443
- does it reproduce with popular web browsers
HP-UX is known to give some problems, please mail me or the mailing
list so we can get these problems straightened. Hint: it has to do
with dynamic loading. One user reports that adding `-lgcc' to EXTRALIBS
and LD_LOAD_LIBS in Makefile fixes the problem. I have not received any
confirmation whether this fix really works, but its worth a try. Another
bag of problems is people installing against binary distributed
perl and compiling the package with different cc or different options.
Genereally this will never work. Please compile _yourself_ your perl,
openssl, and the module, always with the same compiler and compiler flags.
I have a report (schinder@pobox.com) of make test segfaulting on
Linux-PPC. This still needs to be investigated. No recent information
has been receivced.
It seems perl5.004 (at least some versions) has bad xsub compiler which
can make builds sometimes fail. Try upgrading to perl-5.6.0 first.
"Random number generator not seeded!!!" This warning indicates that
randomize() was not able to read /dev/random or /dev/urandom, possibly
because your system does not have them or they are differently
named. You can still use SSL, but the encryption will not be as
strong.
Did you read the POD documentation (if you don't know what that
is, just say `perldoc Net::SSLeay' or `more SSLeay.pm')?
Are you sure you didn't confuse `Net::SSLeay' with `SSLeay' that
comes with OpenSSL?
My development environments are
i686, Linux-2.4.3, gcc-2.92.2, glibc-2.2, perl-5.6.0, openssl-0.9.6a
i686, Linux-2.4.3, gcc-2.92.2, glibc-2.2, perl5.005_02, openssl-0.9.6a
i686, Linux-2.0.35, gcc-2.7.2.3, glibc-2.0.6, perl5.005_02, openssl-0.9.5a
i586, Linux-2.4.3, gcc-2.92.2.1, glibc-2.2.2, perl-5.6.0, openssl-0.9.6a
i586, Linux-2.4.3, gcc-2.92.2.1, glibc-2.2.2, perl5.005_03, openssl-0.9.6
i586, Linux-2.4.3, gcc-2.92.2.1, glibc-2.2.2, perl5.005_03, openssl-0.9.6a
Sun-U1, SunOS-5.6, gcc-2.92.2, libc2 perl-5.6.0
Unfortunately I do not have access to other systems so you are
somewhat on your own. Everything compiles without a warning (except
those mentioned above) on my systems.
Check if there are any post release building hints in
http://www.bacus.pt/Net_SSLeay/index.html
Check that perl is finding your OpenSSL.
If `make test' bombs, add following line to the test script that fails:
$Net::SSLeay::trace = 2;
and see what happens. You may also have to edit test.pl to make sure
the debugging output gets printed.
If `make test' prints lots of `connect: Connection refused...' errors,
then sslecho.pl test server has died. It is supposed to be launched in
the beginning of test.pl, but can fail if, e.g. port 1212 is taken or
in TIMEWAIT state. Look also in ssleacho.log file for diagnostics.
If you are really low on memory and the 1 MB tests fail, edit value of
$mb variable in test.pl.
If you get core dump, build your perl for debugging (add -g to
ccflags, see INSTALL in perl distribution), build your SSLeay for
debugging as well, add -g flag to Makefile.PL:
make clean
perl Makefile.PL -g
make static
make test_static
gdb perl core # post mortem
> bt # show stack trace
gdb perl # run live with debugging
# set break point in SSLeay.xs or in suspect function of OpenSSL
> br XS_Net__SSLeay_connect
> run yourscript.pl arg arg
For gdb'ing make sure gdb finds all the relevant source code. This
may mean that you must run perl and OpenSSL from the directories where
the respective makefiles build them.
You can also enable PR and PRN macros in SSLeay.xs and sprinkle
even some more around the code to figure out what's happening.
Some exotic configurations of perl may cause unstability: make sure
OpenSSL uses the same malloc as perl. Recompile perl without
threads. Try not using the PerlIO abstraction.
If you need to tweak build for some platform, please let me know
so I can fix it. Patches and gdb session dumps are also welcome.
License and Copying
-------------------
Copyright (c) 1996-2001 Sampo Kellomaki <sampo@iki.fi>, All Rights Reserved.
Distribution and use of this module is under the same terms as the
OpenSSL package itself (i.e. free, but mandatory attribution; NO
WARRANTY). Please consult LICENSE file in the root of the OpenSSL
distribution.
While the source distribution of this perl module does not contain
Eric's or OpenSSL's code, if you use this module you will use OpenSSL
library. Please give Eric and OpenSSL team credit (as required by
their licenses).
And remember, you, and nobody else but you, are responsible for
auditing this module and OpenSSL library for security problems,
backdoors, and general suitability for your application.
Recommended reading
-------------------
===> HTTP protocol specification. It applies 100% to HTTPS too and doing
password authentication is explained there. <===
If you are newbie interested in grabbing web pages from https servers,
please read HTTP documentation from http://www.w3c.org/ before asking trivial
questions. That document also covers the basic-auth FAQ (URLs like
http://user:pass@host). Do not ask questions about authentication before
consulting the HTTP specification. HTTPS is just HTTP in SSL transport.
If you are doing advanced stuff, and don't find documentation you need,
please try to extrapolate from OpenSSL documentation (which unfortunately
is quite sparse) and the source code.
If you run into build problems, especially regarding shared libraries,
check your perl documentation, especially the perlxtut(1) man page,
which gives excellent tutorial of the build process of XSUBs.
perlxtut(1)
perlxs(1)
perlguts(1)
perlcall(1)
Say `perldoc Net::SSLeay' _NOW_!
To download OpenSSL, try URL http://www.openssl.org/
Of related interest may be `http://www.bacus.pt/Net_SSLeay/smime.html'
Newer versions of this module can be found from CPAN/authors/id/SAMPO/,
the home page is http://www.bacus.pt/Net_SSLeay/index.html
Please send bug reports to the above address. General questions should be
sent either to me or to the mailing list (subscribe by sending mail
to openssl-users-request@openssl.org or using web interface at
http://www.openssl.org/support/).
--Sampo