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() return no 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.