openssl/doc/crypto/BN_new.pod
Richard Levitte 6859cf7459 It makes more sense to refer to specific function manuals than the concept
manual when the specific function is refered to in the current manual text.
This correction was originally introduced in OpenBSD's tracking of OpenSSL.
2002-09-25 13:33:28 +00:00

54 lines
1.3 KiB
Plaintext

=pod
=head1 NAME
BN_new, BN_init, BN_clear, BN_free, BN_clear_free - allocate and free BIGNUMs
=head1 SYNOPSIS
#include <openssl/bn.h>
BIGNUM *BN_new(void);
void BN_init(BIGNUM *);
void BN_clear(BIGNUM *a);
void BN_free(BIGNUM *a);
void BN_clear_free(BIGNUM *a);
=head1 DESCRIPTION
BN_new() allocated and initializes a B<BIGNUM> structure. BN_init()
initializes an existing uninitialized B<BIGNUM>.
BN_clear() is used to destroy sensitive data such as keys when they
are no longer needed. It erases the memory used by B<a> and sets it
to the value 0.
BN_free() frees the components of the B<BIGNUM>, and if it was created
by BN_new(), also the structure itself. BN_clear_free() additionally
overwrites the data before the memory is returned to the system.
=head1 RETURN VALUES
BN_new() returns a pointer to the B<BIGNUM>. If the allocation fails,
it returns B<NULL> and sets an error code that can be obtained
by L<ERR_get_error(3)|ERR_get_error(3)>.
BN_init(), BN_clear(), BN_free() and BN_clear_free() have no return
values.
=head1 SEE ALSO
L<bn(3)|bn(3)>, L<ERR_get_error(3)|ERR_get_error(3)>
=head1 HISTORY
BN_new(), BN_clear(), BN_free() and BN_clear_free() are available in
all versions on SSLeay and OpenSSL. BN_init() was added in SSLeay
0.9.1b.
=cut