SSL_state_string(3ssl)

SSL_state_string3ssl

Get textual description of state of an ssl object

Usage

 #include <openssl/ssl.h>
 const char *SSL_state_string(const SSL *ssl);
 const char *SSL_state_string_long(const SSL *ssl);

Overview

SSL_state_string() returns an abbreviated string indicating the current state of the SSL object ssl. The returned NUL-terminated string contains 6 or fewer characters.

SSL_state_string_long() returns a descriptive string indicating the current state of the SSL object ssl.

Notes

During its use, an SSL objects passes several states. The state is internally maintained. Querying the state information is not very informative before or when a connection has been established. It however can be of significant interest during the handshake.

When using nonblocking sockets, the function call performing the handshake may return with SSL_ERROR_WANT_READ or SSL_ERROR_WANT_WRITE condition, so that SSL_state_string[_long]() may be called.

For both blocking or nonblocking sockets, the details state information can be used within the info_callback function set with the SSL_set_info_callback() call.

Return values

Detailed description of possible states to be included later.

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

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