OSSL_STORE_open(3) | OpenSSL | OSSL_STORE_open(3)

# NAME

OSSL_STORE_CTX, OSSL_STORE_post_process_info_fn, OSSL_STORE_open, OSSL_STORE_open_ex, OSSL_STORE_ctrl, OSSL_STORE_load, OSSL_STORE_eof, OSSL_STORE_delete, OSSL_STORE_error, OSSL_STORE_close - Types and functions to read objects from a URI

# SYNOPSIS

     #include <openssl/store.h>
     typedef struct ossl_store_ctx_st OSSL_STORE_CTX;
     typedef OSSL_STORE_INFO *(*OSSL_STORE_post_process_info_fn)(OSSL_STORE_INFO *,
                                                                 void *);
     OSSL_STORE_CTX *OSSL_STORE_open(const char *uri, const UI_METHOD *ui_method,
                                     void *ui_data,
                                     OSSL_STORE_post_process_info_fn post_process,
                                     void *post_process_data);
     OSSL_STORE_CTX *
     OSSL_STORE_open_ex(const char *uri, OSSL_LIB_CTX *libctx, const char *propq,
                        const UI_METHOD *ui_method, void *ui_data,
                        const OSSL_PARAM params[],
                        OSSL_STORE_post_process_info_fn post_process,
                        void *post_process_data);
     OSSL_STORE_INFO *OSSL_STORE_load(OSSL_STORE_CTX *ctx);
     int OSSL_STORE_eof(OSSL_STORE_CTX *ctx);
     int OSSL_STORE_delete(const char *uri, OSSL_LIB_CTX *libctx, const char *propq,
                           const UI_METHOD *ui_method, void *ui_data,
                           const OSSL_PARAM params[]);
     int OSSL_STORE_error(OSSL_STORE_CTX *ctx);
     int OSSL_STORE_close(OSSL_STORE_CTX *ctx);

The following function has been deprecated since OpenSSL 3.0, and can be hidden entirely by defining OPENSSL_API_COMPAT with a suitable version value, see openssl_user_macros(7):

     int OSSL_STORE_ctrl(OSSL_STORE_CTX *ctx, int cmd, ... /* args */);

# DESCRIPTION

These functions help the application to fetch supported objects (see "SUPPORTED OBJECTS" in OSSL_STORE_INFO(3) for information on which those are) from a given URI. The general method to do so is to "open" the URI using OSSL_STORE_open(), read each available and supported object using OSSL_STORE_load() as long as OSSL_STORE_eof() hasn't been reached, and finish it off with OSSL_STORE_close().

The retrieved information is stored in a OSSL_STORE_INFO, which is further described in OSSL_STORE_INFO(3).

## Types

OSSL_STORE_CTX is a context variable that holds all the internal information for OSSL_STORE_open(), OSSL_STORE_open_ex(), OSSL_STORE_load(), OSSL_STORE_eof() and OSSL_STORE_close() to work together.

## Functions

OSSL_STORE_open_ex() takes a uri or path uri, password UI method ui_method with associated data ui_data, and post processing callback post_process with associated data post_process_data, a library context libctx with an associated property query propq, and opens a channel to the data located at the URI and returns a OSSL_STORE_CTX with all necessary internal information. The given ui_method and ui_data will be reused by all functions that use OSSL_STORE_CTX when interaction is needed, for instance to provide a password. The auxiliary OSSL_PARAM(3) parameters in params can be set to further modify the store operation. The given post_process and post_process_data will be reused by OSSL_STORE_load() to manipulate or drop the value to be returned. The post_process function drops values by returning NULL, which will cause OSSL_STORE_load() to start its process over with loading the next object, until post_process returns something other than NULL, or the end of data is reached as indicated by OSSL_STORE_eof().

OSSL_STORE_open() is similar to OSSL_STORE_open_ex() but uses NULL for the params, the library context libctx and property query propq.

OSSL_STORE_ctrl() takes a OSSL_STORE_CTX, and command number cmd and more arguments not specified here. The available loader specific command numbers and arguments they each take depends on the loader that's used and is documented together with that loader.

There are also global controls available:

OSSL_STORE_C_USE_SECMEM
  Controls if the loader should attempt to use secure memory for any allocated OSSL_STORE_INFO and its contents. This control expects one argument, a pointer to an int that is expected to have the value 1 (yes) or 0 (no). Any other value is an error.

OSSL_STORE_load() takes a OSSL_STORE_CTX and tries to load the next available object and return it wrapped with OSSL_STORE_INFO.

OSSL_STORE_delete() deletes the object identified by uri.

OSSL_STORE_eof() takes a OSSL_STORE_CTX and checks if we've reached the end of data.

OSSL_STORE_error() takes a OSSL_STORE_CTX and checks if an error occurred in the last OSSL_STORE_load() call. Note that it may still be meaningful to try and load more objects, unless OSSL_STORE_eof() shows that the end of data has been reached.

OSSL_STORE_close() takes a OSSL_STORE_CTX, closes the channel that was opened by OSSL_STORE_open() and frees all other information that was stored in the OSSL_STORE_CTX, as well as the OSSL_STORE_CTX itself. If ctx is NULL it does nothing.

# NOTES

A string without a scheme prefix (that is, a non-URI string) is implicitly interpreted as using the file: scheme.

There are some tools that can be used together with OSSL_STORE_open() to determine if any failure is caused by an unparsable URI, or if it's a different error (such as memory allocation failures); if the URI was parsable but the scheme unregistered, the top error will have the reason "OSSL_STORE_R_UNREGISTERED_SCHEME".

These functions make no direct assumption regarding the pass phrase received from the password callback. The loaders may make assumptions, however. For example, the file: scheme loader inherits the assumptions made by OpenSSL functionality that handles the different file types; this is mostly relevant for PKCS#12 objects. See passphrase-encoding(7) for further information.

# RETURN VALUES

OSSL_STORE_open() returns a pointer to a OSSL_STORE_CTX on success, or NULL on failure.

OSSL_STORE_load() returns a pointer to a OSSL_STORE_INFO on success, or NULL on error or when end of data is reached. Use OSSL_STORE_error() and OSSL_STORE_eof() to determine the meaning of a returned NULL.

OSSL_STORE_eof() returns 1 if the end of data has been reached or an error occurred, 0 otherwise.

OSSL_STORE_error() returns 1 if an error occurred in an OSSL_STORE_load() call, otherwise 0.

OSSL_STORE_delete(), OSSL_STORE_ctrl() and OSSL_STORE_close() return 1 on success, or 0 on failure.

# SEE ALSO

ossl_store(7), OSSL_STORE_INFO(3), OSSL_STORE_register_loader(3), passphrase-encoding(7)

# HISTORY

OSSL_STORE_delete() was added in OpenSSL 3.2.

OSSL_STORE_open_ex() was added in OpenSSL 3.0.

OSSL_STORE_CTX, OSSL_STORE_post_process_info_fn(), OSSL_STORE_open(), OSSL_STORE_ctrl(), OSSL_STORE_load(), OSSL_STORE_eof() and OSSL_STORE_close() were added in OpenSSL 1.1.1.

Handling of NULL ctx argument for OSSL_STORE_close() was introduced in OpenSSL 1.1.1h.

OSSL_STORE_ctrl() and OSSL_STORE_vctrl() were deprecated in OpenSSL 3.0.

# COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2016-2023 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at <https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.

2026-06-09 | 3.5.7