xref: /freebsd/crypto/openssl/doc/man3/BIO_s_mem.pod (revision 6683132d54bd6d589889e43dabdc53d35e38a028)
1=pod
2
3=head1 NAME
4
5BIO_s_secmem,
6BIO_s_mem, BIO_set_mem_eof_return, BIO_get_mem_data, BIO_set_mem_buf,
7BIO_get_mem_ptr, BIO_new_mem_buf - memory BIO
8
9=head1 SYNOPSIS
10
11 #include <openssl/bio.h>
12
13 const BIO_METHOD *BIO_s_mem(void);
14 const BIO_METHOD *BIO_s_secmem(void);
15
16 BIO_set_mem_eof_return(BIO *b, int v)
17 long BIO_get_mem_data(BIO *b, char **pp)
18 BIO_set_mem_buf(BIO *b, BUF_MEM *bm, int c)
19 BIO_get_mem_ptr(BIO *b, BUF_MEM **pp)
20
21 BIO *BIO_new_mem_buf(const void *buf, int len);
22
23=head1 DESCRIPTION
24
25BIO_s_mem() returns the memory BIO method function.
26
27A memory BIO is a source/sink BIO which uses memory for its I/O. Data
28written to a memory BIO is stored in a BUF_MEM structure which is extended
29as appropriate to accommodate the stored data.
30
31BIO_s_secmem() is like BIO_s_mem() except that the secure heap is used
32for buffer storage.
33
34Any data written to a memory BIO can be recalled by reading from it.
35Unless the memory BIO is read only any data read from it is deleted from
36the BIO.
37
38Memory BIOs support BIO_gets() and BIO_puts().
39
40If the BIO_CLOSE flag is set when a memory BIO is freed then the underlying
41BUF_MEM structure is also freed.
42
43Calling BIO_reset() on a read write memory BIO clears any data in it if the
44flag BIO_FLAGS_NONCLEAR_RST is not set. On a read only BIO or if the flag
45BIO_FLAGS_NONCLEAR_RST is set it restores the BIO to its original state and
46the data can be read again.
47
48BIO_eof() is true if no data is in the BIO.
49
50BIO_ctrl_pending() returns the number of bytes currently stored.
51
52BIO_set_mem_eof_return() sets the behaviour of memory BIO B<b> when it is
53empty. If the B<v> is zero then an empty memory BIO will return EOF (that is
54it will return zero and BIO_should_retry(b) will be false. If B<v> is non
55zero then it will return B<v> when it is empty and it will set the read retry
56flag (that is BIO_read_retry(b) is true). To avoid ambiguity with a normal
57positive return value B<v> should be set to a negative value, typically -1.
58
59BIO_get_mem_data() sets *B<pp> to a pointer to the start of the memory BIOs data
60and returns the total amount of data available. It is implemented as a macro.
61
62BIO_set_mem_buf() sets the internal BUF_MEM structure to B<bm> and sets the
63close flag to B<c>, that is B<c> should be either BIO_CLOSE or BIO_NOCLOSE.
64It is a macro.
65
66BIO_get_mem_ptr() places the underlying BUF_MEM structure in *B<pp>. It is
67a macro.
68
69BIO_new_mem_buf() creates a memory BIO using B<len> bytes of data at B<buf>,
70if B<len> is -1 then the B<buf> is assumed to be nul terminated and its
71length is determined by B<strlen>. The BIO is set to a read only state and
72as a result cannot be written to. This is useful when some data needs to be
73made available from a static area of memory in the form of a BIO. The
74supplied data is read directly from the supplied buffer: it is B<not> copied
75first, so the supplied area of memory must be unchanged until the BIO is freed.
76
77=head1 NOTES
78
79Writes to memory BIOs will always succeed if memory is available: that is
80their size can grow indefinitely.
81
82Every read from a read write memory BIO will remove the data just read with
83an internal copy operation, if a BIO contains a lot of data and it is
84read in small chunks the operation can be very slow. The use of a read only
85memory BIO avoids this problem. If the BIO must be read write then adding
86a buffering BIO to the chain will speed up the process.
87
88Calling BIO_set_mem_buf() on a BIO created with BIO_new_secmem() will
89give undefined results, including perhaps a program crash.
90
91Switching the memory BIO from read write to read only is not supported and
92can give undefined results including a program crash. There are two notable
93exceptions to the rule. The first one is to assign a static memory buffer
94immediately after BIO creation and set the BIO as read only.
95
96The other supported sequence is to start with read write BIO then temporarily
97switch it to read only and call BIO_reset() on the read only BIO immediately
98before switching it back to read write. Before the BIO is freed it must be
99switched back to the read write mode.
100
101Calling BIO_get_mem_ptr() on read only BIO will return a BUF_MEM that
102contains only the remaining data to be read. If the close status of the
103BIO is set to BIO_NOCLOSE, before freeing the BUF_MEM the data pointer
104in it must be set to NULL as the data pointer does not point to an
105allocated memory.
106
107=head1 BUGS
108
109There should be an option to set the maximum size of a memory BIO.
110
111=head1 EXAMPLE
112
113Create a memory BIO and write some data to it:
114
115 BIO *mem = BIO_new(BIO_s_mem());
116
117 BIO_puts(mem, "Hello World\n");
118
119Create a read only memory BIO:
120
121 char data[] = "Hello World";
122 BIO *mem = BIO_new_mem_buf(data, -1);
123
124Extract the BUF_MEM structure from a memory BIO and then free up the BIO:
125
126 BUF_MEM *bptr;
127
128 BIO_get_mem_ptr(mem, &bptr);
129 BIO_set_close(mem, BIO_NOCLOSE); /* So BIO_free() leaves BUF_MEM alone */
130 BIO_free(mem);
131
132=head1 RETURN VALUES
133
134BIO_s_mem() and BIO_s_secmem() return a valid memory B<BIO_METHOD> structure.
135
136BIO_set_mem_eof_return(), BIO_get_mem_data(), BIO_set_mem_buf() and BIO_get_mem_ptr()
137return 1 on success or a value which is less than or equal to 0 if an error occurred.
138
139BIO_new_mem_buf() returns a valid B<BIO> structure on success or NULL on error.
140
141=head1 COPYRIGHT
142
143Copyright 2000-2019 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
144
145Licensed under the OpenSSL license (the "License").  You may not use
146this file except in compliance with the License.  You can obtain a copy
147in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
148L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.
149
150=cut
151