Update comments to better document in-place semantics.

(Comment-only change; no functional difference.)

Some code was broken by the |d2i_ECDSA_SIG| change in 87897a8c. It was
passing in a pointer to an existing |ECDSA_SIG| as the first argument
and then simply assuming that the structure would be updated in place.
The comments on the function suggested that this was reasonable.

This change updates the comments that use similar wording to either note
that the function will never update in-place, or else to note that
depending on that is a bad idea for the future.

I've also audited all the uses of these functions that I can find and,
in addition to the one case with |d2i_ECDSA_SIG|, there are several
users of |d2i_PrivateKey| that could become a problem in the future.
I'll try to fix them before it does become an issue.

Change-Id: I769f7b2e0b5308d09ea07dd447e02fc161795071
Reviewed-on: https://boringssl-review.googlesource.com/6902
Reviewed-by: David Benjamin <davidben@chromium.org>
Reviewed-by: Adam Langley <agl@google.com>
7 files changed
tree: 31156418793b365d2ea73d221e9d0f8971ee4cbd
  1. crypto/
  2. decrepit/
  3. fuzz/
  4. include/
  5. ssl/
  6. tool/
  7. util/
  8. .clang-format
  9. .gitignore
  10. BUILDING.md
  11. CMakeLists.txt
  12. codereview.settings
  13. FUZZING.md
  14. LICENSE
  15. PORTING.md
  16. README.md
  17. STYLE.md
README.md

BoringSSL

BoringSSL is a fork of OpenSSL that is designed to meet Google's needs.

Although BoringSSL is an open source project, it is not intended for general use, as OpenSSL is. We don't recommend that third parties depend upon it. Doing so is likely to be frustrating because there are no guarantees of API or ABI stability.

Programs ship their own copies of BoringSSL when they use it and we update everything as needed when deciding to make API changes. This allows us to mostly avoid compromises in the name of compatibility. It works for us, but it may not work for you.

BoringSSL arose because Google used OpenSSL for many years in various ways and, over time, built up a large number of patches that were maintained while tracking upstream OpenSSL. As Google's product portfolio became more complex, more copies of OpenSSL sprung up and the effort involved in maintaining all these patches in multiple places was growing steadily.

Currently BoringSSL is the SSL library in Chrome/Chromium, Android (but it's not part of the NDK) and a number of other apps/programs.

There are other files in this directory which might be helpful:

  • PORTING.md: how to port OpenSSL-using code to BoringSSL.
  • BUILDING.md: how to build BoringSSL
  • STYLE.md: rules and guidelines for coding style.
  • include/openssl: public headers with API documentation in comments. Also available online.
  • FUZZING.md: information about fuzzing BoringSSL.