DESCRIPTION

The ECPrivateKey encode and decode routines encode and parse an EC_KEY structure into a binary format (ASN.1 DER) and back again.

These functions are similar to the d2i_X509() functions, and you should refer to that page for a detailed description (see d2i_X509(3)).

The format of the external representation of the public key written by i2d_ECPrivateKey (such as whether it is stored in a compressed form or not) is described by the point_conversion_form. See EC_GROUP_copy(3) for a description of point_conversion_form.

When reading a private key encoded without an associated public key (e.g. if EC_PKEY_NO_PUBKEY has been used - see below), then d2i_ECPrivateKey generates the missing public key automatically. Private keys encoded without parameters (e.g. if EC_PKEY_NO_PARAMETERS has been used - see below) cannot be loaded using d2i_ECPrivateKey.

The functions EC_KEY_get_enc_flags and EC_KEY_set_enc_flags get and set the value of the encoding flags for the key. There are two encoding flags currently defined - EC_PKEY_NO_PARAMETERS and EC_PKEY_NO_PUBKEY. These flags define the behaviour of how the key is converted into ASN1 in a call to i2d_ECPrivateKey. If EC_PKEY_NO_PARAMETERS is set then the public parameters for the curve are not encoded along with the private key. If EC_PKEY_NO_PUBKEY is set then the public key is not encoded along with the private key.

RETURN VALUES

d2i_ECPrivateKey() returns a valid EC_KEY structure or NULL if an error occurs. The error code that can be obtained by ERR_get_error(3).

i2d_ECPrivateKey() returns the number of bytes successfully encoded or a negative value if an error occurs. The error code can be obtained by ERR_get_error(3).

EC_KEY_get_enc_flags returns the value of the current encoding flags for the EC_KEY.

SEE ALSO

crypto(3), ec(3), EC_GROUP_new(3), EC_GROUP_copy(3), EC_POINT_new(3), EC_POINT_add(3), EC_GFp_simple_method(3), d2i_ECPKParameters(3), d2i_ECPrivateKey(3)