+correctly. OpenSSL 0.9.5 and later make the error visible by refusing
+to perform potentially insecure encryption.
+
+On systems without /dev/urandom and /dev/random, it is a good idea to
+use the Entropy Gathering Demon (EGD); see the RAND_egd() manpage for
+details. Starting with version 0.9.7, OpenSSL will automatically look
+for an EGD socket at /var/run/egd-pool, /dev/egd-pool, /etc/egd-pool and
+/etc/entropy.
+
+Most components of the openssl command line utility automatically try
+to seed the random number generator from a file. The name of the
+default seeding file is determined as follows: If environment variable
+RANDFILE is set, then it names the seeding file. Otherwise if
+environment variable HOME is set, then the seeding file is $HOME/.rnd.
+If neither RANDFILE nor HOME is set, versions up to OpenSSL 0.9.6 will
+use file .rnd in the current directory while OpenSSL 0.9.6a uses no
+default seeding file at all. OpenSSL 0.9.6b and later will behave
+similarly to 0.9.6a, but will use a default of "C:\" for HOME on
+Windows systems if the environment variable has not been set.
+
+If the default seeding file does not exist or is too short, the "PRNG
+not seeded" error message may occur.
+
+The openssl command line utility will write back a new state to the
+default seeding file (and create this file if necessary) unless
+there was no sufficient seeding.
+
+Pointing $RANDFILE to an Entropy Gathering Daemon socket does not work.
+Use the "-rand" option of the OpenSSL command line tools instead.
+The $RANDFILE environment variable and $HOME/.rnd are only used by the
+OpenSSL command line tools. Applications using the OpenSSL library
+provide their own configuration options to specify the entropy source,
+please check out the documentation coming the with application.
+
+For Solaris 2.6, Tim Nibbe <tnibbe@sprint.net> and others have suggested
+installing the SUNski package from Sun patch 105710-01 (Sparc) which
+adds a /dev/random device and make sure it gets used, usually through
+$RANDFILE. There are probably similar patches for the other Solaris
+versions. An official statement from Sun with respect to /dev/random
+support can be found at
+ http://sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/retrieve.pl?doc=fsrdb/27606&zone_32=SUNWski
+However, be warned that /dev/random is usually a blocking device, which
+may have some effects on OpenSSL.
+
+
+* Why do I get an "unable to write 'random state'" error message?
+
+
+Sometimes the openssl command line utility does not abort with
+a "PRNG not seeded" error message, but complains that it is
+"unable to write 'random state'". This message refers to the
+default seeding file (see previous answer). A possible reason
+is that no default filename is known because neither RANDFILE
+nor HOME is set. (Versions up to 0.9.6 used file ".rnd" in the
+current directory in this case, but this has changed with 0.9.6a.)
+
+
+* How do I create certificates or certificate requests?
+
+Check out the CA.pl(1) manual page. This provides a simple wrapper round
+the 'req', 'verify', 'ca' and 'pkcs12' utilities. For finer control check
+out the manual pages for the individual utilities and the certificate
+extensions documentation (currently in doc/openssl.txt).
+
+
+* Why can't I create certificate requests?
+
+You typically get the error:
+
+ unable to find 'distinguished_name' in config
+ problems making Certificate Request
+
+This is because it can't find the configuration file. Check out the
+DIAGNOSTICS section of req(1) for more information.
+
+
+* Why does <SSL program> fail with a certificate verify error?
+
+This problem is usually indicated by log messages saying something like
+"unable to get local issuer certificate" or "self signed certificate".
+When a certificate is verified its root CA must be "trusted" by OpenSSL
+this typically means that the CA certificate must be placed in a directory
+or file and the relevant program configured to read it. The OpenSSL program
+'verify' behaves in a similar way and issues similar error messages: check
+the verify(1) program manual page for more information.
+
+
+* Why can I only use weak ciphers when I connect to a server using OpenSSL?
+
+This is almost certainly because you are using an old "export grade" browser
+which only supports weak encryption. Upgrade your browser to support 128 bit
+ciphers.
+
+
+* How can I create DSA certificates?
+
+Check the CA.pl(1) manual page for a DSA certificate example.
+
+
+* Why can't I make an SSL connection to a server using a DSA certificate?
+
+Typically you'll see a message saying there are no shared ciphers when
+the same setup works fine with an RSA certificate. There are two possible
+causes. The client may not support connections to DSA servers most web
+browsers (including Netscape and MSIE) only support connections to servers
+supporting RSA cipher suites. The other cause is that a set of DH parameters
+has not been supplied to the server. DH parameters can be created with the
+dhparam(1) command and loaded using the SSL_CTX_set_tmp_dh() for example:
+check the source to s_server in apps/s_server.c for an example.
+
+
+* How can I remove the passphrase on a private key?
+
+Firstly you should be really *really* sure you want to do this. Leaving
+a private key unencrypted is a major security risk. If you decide that
+you do have to do this check the EXAMPLES sections of the rsa(1) and
+dsa(1) manual pages.
+
+
+* Why can't I use OpenSSL certificates with SSL client authentication?
+
+What will typically happen is that when a server requests authentication
+it will either not include your certificate or tell you that you have
+no client certificates (Netscape) or present you with an empty list box
+(MSIE). The reason for this is that when a server requests a client
+certificate it includes a list of CAs names which it will accept. Browsers
+will only let you select certificates from the list on the grounds that
+there is little point presenting a certificate which the server will
+reject.
+
+The solution is to add the relevant CA certificate to your servers "trusted
+CA list". How you do this depends on the server software in uses. You can
+print out the servers list of acceptable CAs using the OpenSSL s_client tool:
+
+openssl s_client -connect www.some.host:443 -prexit
+
+If your server only requests certificates on certain URLs then you may need
+to manually issue an HTTP GET command to get the list when s_client connects:
+
+GET /some/page/needing/a/certificate.html
+
+If your CA does not appear in the list then this confirms the problem.
+
+
+* Why does my browser give a warning about a mismatched hostname?
+
+Browsers expect the server's hostname to match the value in the commonName
+(CN) field of the certificate. If it does not then you get a warning.
+
+
+* How do I install a CA certificate into a browser?
+
+The usual way is to send the DER encoded certificate to the browser as
+MIME type application/x-x509-ca-cert, for example by clicking on an appropriate
+link. On MSIE certain extensions such as .der or .cacert may also work, or you
+can import the certificate using the certificate import wizard.
+
+You can convert a certificate to DER form using the command:
+
+openssl x509 -in ca.pem -outform DER -out ca.der
+
+Occasionally someone suggests using a command such as:
+
+openssl pkcs12 -export -out cacert.p12 -in cacert.pem -inkey cakey.pem