openssl/doc/crypto/rc4.pod
Rich Salz c7497f34fb RT1665,2300: Crypto doc cleanups
RT1665: aes documentation.

Paul Green wrote a nice aes.pod file.
But we now encourage the EVP interface.
So I took his RT item and used it as impetus to add
the AES modes to EVP_EncryptInit.pod
I also noticed that rc4.pod has spurious references to some other
cipher pages, so I removed them.

RT2300: Clean up MD history (merged into RT1665)

Put HISTORY section only in EVP_DigestInit.pod. Also add words
to discourage use of older cipher-specific API, and remove SEE ALSO
links that point to them.

Make sure digest pages have a NOTE that says use EVP_DigestInit.

Review feedback:
More cleanup in EVP_EncryptInit.pod
Fixed SEE ALSO links in ripemd160.pod, sha.pod, mdc2.pod, blowfish.pod,
rc4.d, and des.pod.  Re-order sections in des.pod for consistency

Reviewed-by: Matt Caswell <matt@openssl.org>
2014-08-28 18:55:50 -04:00

61 lines
1.7 KiB
Text

=pod
=head1 NAME
RC4_set_key, RC4 - RC4 encryption
=head1 SYNOPSIS
#include <openssl/rc4.h>
void RC4_set_key(RC4_KEY *key, int len, const unsigned char *data);
void RC4(RC4_KEY *key, unsigned long len, const unsigned char *indata,
unsigned char *outdata);
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This library implements the Alleged RC4 cipher, which is described for
example in I<Applied Cryptography>. It is believed to be compatible
with RC4[TM], a proprietary cipher of RSA Security Inc.
RC4 is a stream cipher with variable key length. Typically, 128 bit
(16 byte) keys are used for strong encryption, but shorter insecure
key sizes have been widely used due to export restrictions.
RC4 consists of a key setup phase and the actual encryption or
decryption phase.
RC4_set_key() sets up the B<RC4_KEY> B<key> using the B<len> bytes long
key at B<data>.
RC4() encrypts or decrypts the B<len> bytes of data at B<indata> using
B<key> and places the result at B<outdata>. Repeated RC4() calls with
the same B<key> yield a continuous key stream.
Since RC4 is a stream cipher (the input is XORed with a pseudo-random
key stream to produce the output), decryption uses the same function
calls as encryption.
=head1 RETURN VALUES
RC4_set_key() and RC4() do not return values.
=head1 NOTE
Applications should use the higher level functions
L<EVP_EncryptInit(3)|EVP_EncryptInit(3)> etc. instead of calling these
functions directly.
It is difficult to securely use stream ciphers. For example, do not perform
multiple encryptions using the same key stream.
=head1 HISTORY
RC4_set_key() and RC4() are available in all versions of SSLeay and OpenSSL.
=head1 SEE ALSO
L<EVP_EncryptInit(3)|EVP_EncryptInit(3)>
=cut