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The sorry state of OpenSSL usability

jameshfisher.com

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Re: The sorry state of OpenSSL usability

#41

Post by proginthebox »

smhenderson wrote: post #14
wedowhatwedo wrote: post #8

It's funny to me when people complain about something they get for free. There are at least two solutions to this problem and neither of them are writing a blog to complain about the work that someone else has done and given a way for free. You could write some documentation and give it to them. Or you could pay someone to write it for the project. The author seems to know quite a bit about OpenSSL/LibreSSL. I'd thin…

But there is documentation for LibreSSL. As an OpenBSD project they take documentation just as seriously as code. I just don't get how the article makes that claim when there are links to any man page you need here: http://www.libressl.org/

It does not have a "documentation" link. It does not even say "man pages" anywhere on the page. ALso, the man pages go to something called "openssl", and when I click on the link, there is no "libressl" on the resulting page. Am I still on the libreSSL site? Is the libreSSL API exactly same as OpenSSL API? I have no clue. If it is, it does not say so, if it is not, it does not say so. What a mess.

Re: The sorry state of OpenSSL usability

#42

Post by PhantomGremlin »

gpf wrote: post #9

This is a macOS problem. OpenSSL on Linux has extensive man pages and a --help switch.

The big problem is so many different versions between operating systems. Everyone wants to fiddle with code.

E.g. OpenSSL on OpenBSD does have a man page. But unfortunately no --help, at least on my older version.

Also, on OpenBSD his example of generating an RSA key creates one with a 2048 bit modulus.

Re: The sorry state of OpenSSL usability

#43

Post by dmitriid »

gbrown_ wrote: post #29
dmitriid wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Original quote: > Going to that website and clicking on openssl reveals a manual page Please tell me where the very first OpenSSL link takes you. That's the one I clicked just to check. Oh, right, it has to be the openssl(1), helpfully hidden away in the list of various utilities.

> Please tell me where the very first OpenSSL link takes you. That's the one I clicked just to check. Are you referring to the line informing the reader that LibreSSL is a fork and provides a link the the OpenSSL project?

Yes. That’s the most prominent OpenSSL link on that page. And as someone pointed out elsewhere, “There are links to the documentation, but they're not labeled as such. They're labeled as though they're links to download the components.”

Re: The sorry state of OpenSSL usability

#45

Post by tonysidaway »

dmitriid wrote: post #25
dsp1234 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

openssl(1) links to https://man.openbsd.org/openssl

It took me a while to find where the link to openssl(1) is on that page. So, in order to find documentation, one would have to land on LibreSSL webpage and click on all links hoping to get to the correct one.

LibreSSL comes with copious documentation. Whence this latterday ignorance of offline documentation?
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