NAME¶
BN_new, BN_init, BN_clear, BN_free, BN_clear_free - allocate and free BIGNUMs
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);
DESCRIPTION¶
BN_new() allocates and initializes a
BIGNUM structure.
BN_init() initializes an existing uninitialized
BIGNUM.
BN_clear() is used to destroy sensitive data such as keys when they are
no longer needed. It erases the memory used by
a and sets it to the
value 0.
BN_free() frees the components of the
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.
RETURN VALUES¶
BN_new() returns a pointer to the
BIGNUM. If the allocation fails,
it returns
NULL and sets an error code that can be obtained by
ERR_get_error(3).
BN_init(),
BN_clear(),
BN_free() and
BN_clear_free()
have no return values.
SEE ALSO¶
bn(3),
ERR_get_error(3)
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.