BIO_new(3ssl)

BIO_new3ssl

Bio allocation and freeing functions

Usage

 #include <openssl/bio.h>
 BIO *BIO_new_ex(OSSL_LIB_CTX *libctx, const BIO_METHOD *type);
 BIO *BIO_new(const BIO_METHOD *type);
 int BIO_up_ref(BIO *a);
 int BIO_free(BIO *a);
 void BIO_vfree(BIO *a);
 void BIO_free_all(BIO *a);

Overview

The BIO_new_ex() function returns a new BIO using method type associated with the library context libctx (see OSSL_LIB_CTX(3)). The library context may be NULL to indicate the default library context. type MUST NOT be NULL.

The BIO_new() is the same as BIO_new_ex() except the default library context is always used.

BIO_up_ref() increments the reference count associated with the BIO object.

BIO_free() frees up a single BIO, BIO_vfree() also frees up a single BIO but it does not return a value. If a is NULL nothing is done. Calling BIO_free() may also have some effect on the underlying I/O structure, for example it may close the file being referred to under certain circumstances. For more details see the individual BIO_METHOD descriptions.

BIO_free_all() frees up an entire BIO chain, it does not halt if an error occurs freeing up an individual BIO in the chain. If a is NULL nothing is done.

Return values

BIO_new_ex() and BIO_new() return a newly created BIO or NULL if the call fails.

BIO_up_ref() and BIO_free() return 1 for success and 0 for failure.

BIO_free_all() and BIO_vfree() do not return values.

Notes

If BIO_free() is called on a BIO chain it will only free one BIO resulting in a memory leak.

Calling BIO_free_all() on a single BIO has the same effect as calling BIO_free() on it other than the discarded return value.

Examples

Create a memory BIO:

 BIO *mem = BIO_new(BIO_s_mem());

Releases

13 releases since Debian 3.0 (Woody); the text changed 12 times.

  1. 3.0
  2. 3.1
  3. 4.0
  4. 5.0
  5. 6.0
  6. 7
  7. 8
  8. 9
  9. 10
  10. 11
  11. 12
  12. 13
  13. Arch

History

BIO_set() was removed in OpenSSL 1.1.0 as BIO type is now opaque.

BIO_new_ex() was added in OpenSSL 3.0.

From openssl 3.6.5-1 in Arch Linux 2026-11-01. Parsed by carta from the page's man source.