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Frequently Asked Questions - C++

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Questions

Answers

1. Compiling and Using the Library

1.1. Is OpenSSL required? ^

The main development work for the library is done using OpenSSL, so this is the recommended option. However, a developmental Windows Crypto API interface is also now provided.

It is also possible to implement interfaces for other cryptographic libraries and pass them into the xml-security-c library during initialisation (via the XSECPlatformUtils::Initialise() call).

1.2. Does the library provide a full C++ wrapper for OpenSSL? ^

The C++ crypto interface layer provided for the library provides only the smallest subset of cryptographic functions necessary for the library to make calls to the provided library. Applications will need to work directly with OpenSSL (or other libraries) to read and manipulate encryption keys that should then be wrapped in XSECCrypto* objects and passed into the library.

1.3. What is WinCAPI? ^

WinCAPI is the developmental interface being built to give users of the library access to the Windows Cryptographic library.

It is not a C API wrapper for the overall library.

1.4. Is Xalan required? ^

The library can be compiled without linking to Xalan-c. However doing so will disable support for XPath and XSLT transformations.

To disable Xalan-c support either use --without-xalan when running configure on UNIX, or use the VC++ "without Xalan" settings.

1.5. Are versions of Xalan prior to 1.6 supported? ^

No. Whilst the functionality required is available in prior versions, the location of include files changed in 1.6. A decision was made in version 1.0.0 of xml-security-c to update the source to support these new locations.