diff --git a/doc/man3/EC_POINT_new.pod b/doc/man3/EC_POINT_new.pod index 42eaddd460..f941446fd5 100644 --- a/doc/man3/EC_POINT_new.pod +++ b/doc/man3/EC_POINT_new.pod @@ -171,6 +171,26 @@ The functions EC_POINT_point2oct(), EC_POINT_oct2point(), EC_POINT_point2bn(), EC_POINT_bn2point(), EC_POINT_point2hex() and EC_POINT_hex2point() convert from and to EC_POINTs for the formats: octet, BIGNUM and hexadecimal respectively. +The function EC_POINT_point2oct() encodes the given curve point B

as an +octet string into the buffer B of size B, using the specified +conversion form B

. +The encoding conforms with Sec. 2.3.3 of the SECG SEC 1 ("Elliptic Curve +Cryptography") standard. +Similarly the function EC_POINT_oct2point() decodes a curve point into B

from +the octet string contained in the given buffer B of size B, conforming +to Sec. 2.3.4 of the SECG SEC 1 ("Elliptic Curve Cryptography") standard. + +The functions EC_POINT_point2hex() and EC_POINT_point2bn() convert a point B

, +respectively, to the hexadecimal or BIGNUM representation of the same +encoding of the function EC_POINT_point2oct(). +Vice versa, similarly to the function EC_POINT_oct2point(), the functions +EC_POINT_hex2point() and EC_POINT_point2bn() decode the hexadecimal or +BIGNUM representation into the EC_POINT B

. + +Notice that, according to the standard, the octet string encoding of the point +at infinity for a given curve is fixed to a single octet of value zero and that, +vice versa, a single octet of size zero is decoded as the point at infinity. + The function EC_POINT_point2oct() must be supplied with a buffer long enough to store the octet form. The return value provides the number of octets stored. Calling the function with a NULL buffer will not perform the conversion but