Set up the engine before doing anything random-related, since engine randomness

[oweals/openssl.git] / FAQ

diff --git a/FAQ b/FAQ
index fae0b855bf82d847ef64da709422d01909c4fca2..45566252f45821543ed877cfb0d4ca08d79264d3 100644 (file)
--- a/FAQ
+++ b/FAQ
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ OpenSSL  -  Frequently Asked Questions
 * Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail on Alpha Tru64 Unix?
 * Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail with "ar: command not found"?
 * Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail on Win32 with VC++?
 * Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail on Alpha Tru64 Unix?
 * Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail with "ar: command not found"?
 * Why does the OpenSSL compilation fail on Win32 with VC++?

+* What is special about OpenSSL on Redhat?

 
 [PROG] Questions about programming with OpenSSL
 
 
 [PROG] Questions about programming with OpenSSL
 


@@ -463,6 +464,38 @@ under 'Program Files').  This needs to be done prior to running NMAKE,
 and the changes are only valid for the current DOS session.
 
 
 and the changes are only valid for the current DOS session.
 
 

+* What is special about OpenSSL on Redhat?
+
+Red Hat Linux (release 7.0 and later) include a preinstalled limited
+version of OpenSSL. For patent reasons, support for IDEA, RC5 and MDC2
+is disabled in this version. The same may apply to other Linux distributions.
+Users may therefore wish to install more or all of the features left out.
+
+To do this you MUST ensure that you do not overwrite the openssl that is in
+/usr/bin on your Red Hat machine. Several packages depend on this file,
+including sendmail and ssh. /usr/local/bin is a good alternative choice. The
+libraries that come with Red Hat 7.0 onwards have different names and so are
+not affected. (eg For Red Hat 7.2 they are /lib/libssl.so.0.9.6b and
+/lib/libcrypto.so.0.9.6b with symlinks /lib/libssl.so.2 and
+/lib/libcrypto.so.2 respectively).
+
+Please note that we have been advised by Red Hat attempting to recompile the
+openssl rpm with all the cryptography enabled will not work. All other
+packages depend on the original Red Hat supplied openssl package. It is also
+worth noting that due to the way Red Hat supplies its packages, updates to
+openssl on each distribution never change the package version, only the
+build number. For example, on Red Hat 7.1, the latest openssl package has
+version number 0.9.6 and build number 9 even though it contains all the
+relevant updates in packages up to and including 0.9.6b.
+
+A possible way around this is to persuade Red Hat to produce a non-US
+version of Red Hat Linux.
+
+FYI: Patent numbers and expiry dates of US patents:
+MDC-2: 4,908,861 13/03/2007
+IDEA:  5,214,703 25/05/2010
+RC5:   5,724,428 03/03/2015
+

 [PROG] ========================================================================
 
 * Is OpenSSL thread-safe?
 [PROG] ========================================================================
 
 * Is OpenSSL thread-safe?