libressl-EVP_PKEY_CTX_new(3)

libressl-EVP_PKEY_CTX_new3

Public key algorithm context functions

Usage

Crypto Library (libcrypto, -lcrypto)

#include <openssl/evp.h>

EVP_PKEY_CTX *

EVP_PKEY_CTX_new(EVP_PKEY *pkey, ENGINE *engine);

EVP_PKEY_CTX *

EVP_PKEY_CTX_new_id(int id, ENGINE *engine);

EVP_PKEY_CTX *

EVP_PKEY_CTX_dup(EVP_PKEY_CTX *ctx);

void

EVP_PKEY_CTX_free(EVP_PKEY_CTX *ctx);

Overview

The EVP_PKEY_CTX_new() function allocates a public key algorithm context using the algorithm specified in pkey. The ENGINE, *engine argument is always ignored and passing NULL is recommended.

The EVP_PKEY_CTX_new_id() function allocates a public key algorithm context using the algorithm specified by id. The ENGINE, *engine argument is always ignored and passing NULL is recommended. It is normally used when no EVP_PKEY structure is associated with the operations, for example during parameter generation of key generation for some algorithms. The id argument can be any of the constants that EVP_PKEY_base_id(3) and EVP_PKEY_id(3) may return.

EVP_PKEY_CTX_dup() duplicates the context ctx.

EVP_PKEY_CTX_free() frees up the context ctx. If ctx is a NULL pointer, no action occurs.

Return values

EVP_PKEY_CTX_new(), EVP_PKEY_CTX_new_id(), and EVP_PKEY_CTX_dup() return either the newly allocated EVP_PKEY_CTX structure or NULL if an error occurred.

Caveats

The EVP_PKEY_CTX structure is an opaque public key algorithm context used by the OpenSSL high level public key API. Contexts MUST NOT be shared between threads. It is not permissible to use the same context simultaneously in two threads.

History

These functions first appeared in OpenSSL 1.0.0 and have been available since OpenBSD 4.9.

From libressl 4.4.0-1 in Arch Linux 2026-11-01. Parsed by carta from the page's mdoc source.