I too think that the OpenSSL needs some GOOD documentation.
What is the point in developing a product, if
others cannot use it?
We were planning to build a OpenSSL based Client and
server communication system for the Windows platform.
The system was to be used by 20,000 clients on the field.
We dropped OpenSSL in favor of a commecial toolkit
due to poor documentation available for OpenSSL.
There is no way to understand the structure or the
options of the toolkit
For example
which one is appropriate an when - SSL_write vs BIO_write?
or
how to set the timeout option for a BIO based SSL?
or
I was getting an error code of -1, when I was writing
using BIO_write on a SSL connection. Inspite
of reading the examples and the source code, I could not
figure out the reason for it.
Of course, I might be too dumb. But, the toolkit needs
to be understandable to an average developer to be
of any use.
Many of the freeware software have excellent documentation which
makes them useful (reason for their existence?).
For eg, Perl, emacs etc.
Please understand that I am not trying to downplay OpenSSL.
I am just saying that it needs to be more accessible.
-Deva
> I don't think you have placed OpenSSL in the proper
> perspective. OpenSSL is a *toolkit* used primarily with OTHER
> applications.
Most toolkits have documentation, though. Developers need to know how
to use the product just like anyone else. For an example, see the GNU
C library documentation -- very comprehensive and clear.
> Would you complain that gcc does not have documentation?
... but it does (separate from the library documentation).
(I am not wanting to detract from OpenSSL at all -- it is a very good
product, and we all understand the effort that went into writing it.)
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