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Diffstat (limited to 'openssl/crypto/engine/README')
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diff --git a/openssl/crypto/engine/README b/openssl/crypto/engine/README deleted file mode 100644 index 6b69b70f..00000000 --- a/openssl/crypto/engine/README +++ /dev/null @@ -1,211 +0,0 @@ -Notes: 2001-09-24 ------------------ - -This "description" (if one chooses to call it that) needed some major updating -so here goes. This update addresses a change being made at the same time to -OpenSSL, and it pretty much completely restructures the underlying mechanics of -the "ENGINE" code. So it serves a double purpose of being a "ENGINE internals -for masochists" document *and* a rather extensive commit log message. (I'd get -lynched for sticking all this in CHANGES or the commit mails :-). - -ENGINE_TABLE underlies this restructuring, as described in the internal header -"eng_int.h", implemented in eng_table.c, and used in each of the "class" files; -tb_rsa.c, tb_dsa.c, etc. - -However, "EVP_CIPHER" underlies the motivation and design of ENGINE_TABLE so -I'll mention a bit about that first. EVP_CIPHER (and most of this applies -equally to EVP_MD for digests) is both a "method" and a algorithm/mode -identifier that, in the current API, "lingers". These cipher description + -implementation structures can be defined or obtained directly by applications, -or can be loaded "en masse" into EVP storage so that they can be catalogued and -searched in various ways, ie. two ways of encrypting with the "des_cbc" -algorithm/mode pair are; - -(i) directly; - const EVP_CIPHER *cipher = EVP_des_cbc(); - EVP_EncryptInit(&ctx, cipher, key, iv); - [ ... use EVP_EncryptUpdate() and EVP_EncryptFinal() ...] - -(ii) indirectly; - OpenSSL_add_all_ciphers(); - cipher = EVP_get_cipherbyname("des_cbc"); - EVP_EncryptInit(&ctx, cipher, key, iv); - [ ... etc ... ] - -The latter is more generally used because it also allows ciphers/digests to be -looked up based on other identifiers which can be useful for automatic cipher -selection, eg. in SSL/TLS, or by user-controllable configuration. - -The important point about this is that EVP_CIPHER definitions and structures are -passed around with impunity and there is no safe way, without requiring massive -rewrites of many applications, to assume that EVP_CIPHERs can be reference -counted. One an EVP_CIPHER is exposed to the caller, neither it nor anything it -comes from can "safely" be destroyed. Unless of course the way of getting to -such ciphers is via entirely distinct API calls that didn't exist before. -However existing API usage cannot be made to understand when an EVP_CIPHER -pointer, that has been passed to the caller, is no longer being used. - -The other problem with the existing API w.r.t. to hooking EVP_CIPHER support -into ENGINE is storage - the OBJ_NAME-based storage used by EVP to register -ciphers simultaneously registers cipher *types* and cipher *implementations* - -they are effectively the same thing, an "EVP_CIPHER" pointer. The problem with -hooking in ENGINEs is that multiple ENGINEs may implement the same ciphers. The -solution is necessarily that ENGINE-provided ciphers simply are not registered, -stored, or exposed to the caller in the same manner as existing ciphers. This is -especially necessary considering the fact ENGINE uses reference counts to allow -for cleanup, modularity, and DSO support - yet EVP_CIPHERs, as exposed to -callers in the current API, support no such controls. - -Another sticking point for integrating cipher support into ENGINE is linkage. -Already there is a problem with the way ENGINE supports RSA, DSA, etc whereby -they are available *because* they're part of a giant ENGINE called "openssl". -Ie. all implementations *have* to come from an ENGINE, but we get round that by -having a giant ENGINE with all the software support encapsulated. This creates -linker hassles if nothing else - linking a 1-line application that calls 2 basic -RSA functions (eg. "RSA_free(RSA_new());") will result in large quantities of -ENGINE code being linked in *and* because of that DSA, DH, and RAND also. If we -continue with this approach for EVP_CIPHER support (even if it *was* possible) -we would lose our ability to link selectively by selectively loading certain -implementations of certain functionality. Touching any part of any kind of -crypto would result in massive static linkage of everything else. So the -solution is to change the way ENGINE feeds existing "classes", ie. how the -hooking to ENGINE works from RSA, DSA, DH, RAND, as well as adding new hooking -for EVP_CIPHER, and EVP_MD. - -The way this is now being done is by mostly reverting back to how things used to -work prior to ENGINE :-). Ie. RSA now has a "RSA_METHOD" pointer again - this -was previously replaced by an "ENGINE" pointer and all RSA code that required -the RSA_METHOD would call ENGINE_get_RSA() each time on its ENGINE handle to -temporarily get and use the ENGINE's RSA implementation. Apart from being more -efficient, switching back to each RSA having an RSA_METHOD pointer also allows -us to conceivably operate with *no* ENGINE. As we'll see, this removes any need -for a fallback ENGINE that encapsulates default implementations - we can simply -have our RSA structure pointing its RSA_METHOD pointer to the software -implementation and have its ENGINE pointer set to NULL. - -A look at the EVP_CIPHER hooking is most explanatory, the RSA, DSA (etc) cases -turn out to be degenerate forms of the same thing. The EVP storage of ciphers, -and the existing EVP API functions that return "software" implementations and -descriptions remain untouched. However, the storage takes more meaning in terms -of "cipher description" and less meaning in terms of "implementation". When an -EVP_CIPHER_CTX is actually initialised with an EVP_CIPHER method and is about to -begin en/decryption, the hooking to ENGINE comes into play. What happens is that -cipher-specific ENGINE code is asked for an ENGINE pointer (a functional -reference) for any ENGINE that is registered to perform the algo/mode that the -provided EVP_CIPHER structure represents. Under normal circumstances, that -ENGINE code will return NULL because no ENGINEs will have had any cipher -implementations *registered*. As such, a NULL ENGINE pointer is stored in the -EVP_CIPHER_CTX context, and the EVP_CIPHER structure is left hooked into the -context and so is used as the implementation. Pretty much how things work now -except we'd have a redundant ENGINE pointer set to NULL and doing nothing. - -Conversely, if an ENGINE *has* been registered to perform the algorithm/mode -combination represented by the provided EVP_CIPHER, then a functional reference -to that ENGINE will be returned to the EVP_CIPHER_CTX during initialisation. -That functional reference will be stored in the context (and released on -cleanup) - and having that reference provides a *safe* way to use an EVP_CIPHER -definition that is private to the ENGINE. Ie. the EVP_CIPHER provided by the -application will actually be replaced by an EVP_CIPHER from the registered -ENGINE - it will support the same algorithm/mode as the original but will be a -completely different implementation. Because this EVP_CIPHER isn't stored in the -EVP storage, nor is it returned to applications from traditional API functions, -there is no associated problem with it not having reference counts. And of -course, when one of these "private" cipher implementations is hooked into -EVP_CIPHER_CTX, it is done whilst the EVP_CIPHER_CTX holds a functional -reference to the ENGINE that owns it, thus the use of the ENGINE's EVP_CIPHER is -safe. - -The "cipher-specific ENGINE code" I mentioned is implemented in tb_cipher.c but -in essence it is simply an instantiation of "ENGINE_TABLE" code for use by -EVP_CIPHER code. tb_digest.c is virtually identical but, of course, it is for -use by EVP_MD code. Ditto for tb_rsa.c, tb_dsa.c, etc. These instantiations of -ENGINE_TABLE essentially provide linker-separation of the classes so that even -if ENGINEs implement *all* possible algorithms, an application using only -EVP_CIPHER code will link at most code relating to EVP_CIPHER, tb_cipher.c, core -ENGINE code that is independant of class, and of course the ENGINE -implementation that the application loaded. It will *not* however link any -class-specific ENGINE code for digests, RSA, etc nor will it bleed over into -other APIs, such as the RSA/DSA/etc library code. - -ENGINE_TABLE is a little more complicated than may seem necessary but this is -mostly to avoid a lot of "init()"-thrashing on ENGINEs (that may have to load -DSOs, and other expensive setup that shouldn't be thrashed unnecessarily) *and* -to duplicate "default" behaviour. Basically an ENGINE_TABLE instantiation, for -example tb_cipher.c, implements a hash-table keyed by integer "nid" values. -These nids provide the uniquenness of an algorithm/mode - and each nid will hash -to a potentially NULL "ENGINE_PILE". An ENGINE_PILE is essentially a list of -pointers to ENGINEs that implement that particular 'nid'. Each "pile" uses some -caching tricks such that requests on that 'nid' will be cached and all future -requests will return immediately (well, at least with minimal operation) unless -a change is made to the pile, eg. perhaps an ENGINE was unloaded. The reason is -that an application could have support for 10 ENGINEs statically linked -in, and the machine in question may not have any of the hardware those 10 -ENGINEs support. If each of those ENGINEs has a "des_cbc" implementation, we -want to avoid every EVP_CIPHER_CTX setup from trying (and failing) to initialise -each of those 10 ENGINEs. Instead, the first such request will try to do that -and will either return (and cache) a NULL ENGINE pointer or will return a -functional reference to the first that successfully initialised. In the latter -case it will also cache an extra functional reference to the ENGINE as a -"default" for that 'nid'. The caching is acknowledged by a 'uptodate' variable -that is unset only if un/registration takes place on that pile. Ie. if -implementations of "des_cbc" are added or removed. This behaviour can be -tweaked; the ENGINE_TABLE_FLAG_NOINIT value can be passed to -ENGINE_set_table_flags(), in which case the only ENGINEs that tb_cipher.c will -try to initialise from the "pile" will be those that are already initialised -(ie. it's simply an increment of the functional reference count, and no real -"initialisation" will take place). - -RSA, DSA, DH, and RAND all have their own ENGINE_TABLE code as well, and the -difference is that they all use an implicit 'nid' of 1. Whereas EVP_CIPHERs are -actually qualitatively different depending on 'nid' (the "des_cbc" EVP_CIPHER is -not an interoperable implementation of "aes_256_cbc"), RSA_METHODs are -necessarily interoperable and don't have different flavours, only different -implementations. In other words, the ENGINE_TABLE for RSA will either be empty, -or will have a single ENGING_PILE hashed to by the 'nid' 1 and that pile -represents ENGINEs that implement the single "type" of RSA there is. - -Cleanup - the registration and unregistration may pose questions about how -cleanup works with the ENGINE_PILE doing all this caching nonsense (ie. when the -application or EVP_CIPHER code releases its last reference to an ENGINE, the -ENGINE_PILE code may still have references and thus those ENGINEs will stay -hooked in forever). The way this is handled is via "unregistration". With these -new ENGINE changes, an abstract ENGINE can be loaded and initialised, but that -is an algorithm-agnostic process. Even if initialised, it will not have -registered any of its implementations (to do so would link all class "table" -code despite the fact the application may use only ciphers, for example). This -is deliberately a distinct step. Moreover, registration and unregistration has -nothing to do with whether an ENGINE is *functional* or not (ie. you can even -register an ENGINE and its implementations without it being operational, you may -not even have the drivers to make it operate). What actually happens with -respect to cleanup is managed inside eng_lib.c with the "engine_cleanup_***" -functions. These functions are internal-only and each part of ENGINE code that -could require cleanup will, upon performing its first allocation, register a -callback with the "engine_cleanup" code. The other part of this that makes it -tick is that the ENGINE_TABLE instantiations (tb_***.c) use NULL as their -initialised state. So if RSA code asks for an ENGINE and no ENGINE has -registered an implementation, the code will simply return NULL and the tb_rsa.c -state will be unchanged. Thus, no cleanup is required unless registration takes -place. ENGINE_cleanup() will simply iterate across a list of registered cleanup -callbacks calling each in turn, and will then internally delete its own storage -(a STACK). When a cleanup callback is next registered (eg. if the cleanup() is -part of a gracefull restart and the application wants to cleanup all state then -start again), the internal STACK storage will be freshly allocated. This is much -the same as the situation in the ENGINE_TABLE instantiations ... NULL is the -initialised state, so only modification operations (not queries) will cause that -code to have to register a cleanup. - -What else? The bignum callbacks and associated ENGINE functions have been -removed for two obvious reasons; (i) there was no way to generalise them to the -mechanism now used by RSA/DSA/..., because there's no such thing as a BIGNUM -method, and (ii) because of (i), there was no meaningful way for library or -application code to automatically hook and use ENGINE supplied bignum functions -anyway. Also, ENGINE_cpy() has been removed (although an internal-only version -exists) - the idea of providing an ENGINE_cpy() function probably wasn't a good -one and now certainly doesn't make sense in any generalised way. Some of the -RSA, DSA, DH, and RAND functions that were fiddled during the original ENGINE -changes have now, as a consequence, been reverted back. This is because the -hooking of ENGINE is now automatic (and passive, it can interally use a NULL -ENGINE pointer to simply ignore ENGINE from then on). - -Hell, that should be enough for now ... comments welcome: geoff@openssl.org - |