Application Programming Interface

The SciSslSocketInterface provides a Smalltalk application with a set of classes and methods to construct tasks that use the Secure Socket Layer and/or the Transport Layer Security protocols to provide secure communications over TCP/IP. The SciSslOpenSSLInterface class provides support for these protocols.

The SciSslOpenSSLInterface class is based on the OpenSSL API, an open source implementation of SSL/TLS based on the SSLeay library developed by Eric A. Young and Tim J. Hudson. The use of OpenSSL is provided under a dual license, the OpenSSL License and the SSLeay License.

The driving force behind the choice to support the OpenSSL API was the degree of ongoing, active development the API continues to see. OpenSSL has active mailing lists where many developers can search for answers about developing ssl-enabled applications. The OpenSSL web site has more information about joining these lists.

Note:

The binaries for the OpenSSL library are not included with VA Smalltalk; however a supporting thread-control library is included which provides thread-safety when using OpenSSL within VA Smalltalk. This is because VA Smalltalk makes calls to OpenSSL libraries in separate operating system threads which requires coordination.

Binaries are available on most platforms.

The name of the OpenSSL library depends on the version not on whether the library is 32-bit or 62-bit.

If a specific version of the OpenSSL library is required, users must download platform specific binaries for OpenSSL or compile it from source. Source/Documentation can be found at the OpenSSL Website http://www.openssl.org. Installation instructions for most platforms are provided. See FAQ-va09002 for specific information where to get OpenSSL Libraries and how to set them up

The binaries used by VA Smalltalk depend on the version of OpenSSL used and thespecific platform on which VAST is running. However, the major libraries are:

•	SSL_LIB - library of ssl functions

•	CRYPTO_LIB - library of cryptographic functions

•	THREAD_LIB - VA Smalltalk's provided thread-safety library for OpenSSL