home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- GNU TLS README -- Important introductory notes.
- Copyright (C) 2004, 2005 Simon Josefsson
- Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Nikos Mavroyanopoulos
- See the end for copying conditions.
-
- This is the GNU TLS library. More up to date information can be found
- at http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/ and http://www.gnutls.org/
-
- This is a TLS (Transport Layer Security) 1.0 and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) 3.0
- implementation for the GNU project.
-
- - The library needs libgcrypt. You can find libgcrypt at
- ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/pub/gcrypt/alpha/libgcrypt/
-
- Note that by compiling libgcrypt with CPU optimizations gnutls' speed
- will increase.
-
- - For OpenPGP key support the OpenCDK library is required. You can find
- libopencdk at:
- ftp://ftp.gnutls.org/pub/gnutls/opencdk/
-
- - Documentation:
- view the doc/ directory and the examples in the doc/examples directory.
-
-
- ****************************
- COMPILATION ISSUES:
-
- Nothing special here. In case you are compiling for embedded systems
- you should check the configure options (that is run: 'configure --help'),
- and disable unneeded features of gnutls.
-
- Experimental:
-
- If you specify --with-builtin-crypto, you will use gnulib instead of
- libgcrypt for (some) crypto routines.
-
- Currently the generic crypto interface only support secret key
- ciphering, hashing and gathering of random data. Supporting
- RSA/DSA/DH/SEXP/MPI in the generic crypto interface is pending.
-
- If --with-builtin-crypto is specified, random data will be read from
- system device files (e.g., /dev/random) directly. The files used are
- printed when running configure, you can override them using
- --enable-random-device, --enable-pseudo-random-device, and
- --enable-nonce-device. Please let us know if the defaults for some
- systems are wrong.
-
- The goal here is to make GnuTLS build standalone, in case Libgcrypt is
- not available, but also to allow easy use of other crypto libraries or
- crypto hardware.
-
- ****************************
- LICENSE ISSUES:
-
- Since the 0.4.2 version the gnutls library is covered under the GNU
- Lesser GPL. Previously released versions were licensed under the GNU GPL.
-
- We changed the license for most of GNUTLS because other free libraries
- already exist that do the same jobs and have lax licenses. We want
- GNUTLS to be usable in all the same places as those other libraries.
- We kept some parts of GNUTLS under the GPL because they are unique,
- and with the GPL they provide free software projects (which deserve
- our help) an advantage over non-free projects (which do not deserve
- our help, since they refuse to share with us). For more explanation,
- see http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-not-lgpl.html.
-
- The GNU Lesser GPL license applies to the main gnutls library, while the
- gnutls-extra library is under the GPL. The gnutls-extra library contains
- the code for the "OpenPGP key" support and the OpenSSL compatibility layer.
- The gnutls library is located in the lib/ directory, while the gnutls-extra
- library is at libextra/.
-
-
- ****************************
- BUGS:
-
- Currently gnuTLS needs testing. By notifying the developers
- about a possible bug you may help a lot, since testing is really
- important and expensive. If you think you found a bug,
- report it to bug-gnutls@gnu.org together with the needed information,
- in order for developers to reproduce it.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
- are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
- notice and this notice are preserved.
-