GnuTLS

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GnuTLS
64px
Developer(s) Nikos Mavrogiannopoulos
Simon Josefsson
Stable release 3.4.8 (January 8, 2016; 8 years ago (2016-01-08) [1]) [±]
3.3.20 (January 8, 2016; 8 years ago (2016-01-08) [1]) [±]
Preview release 3.5.0 (May 9, 2016; 7 years ago (2016-05-09) [2]) [±]
Written in C
Operating system Multi-platform
Type Security library
License LGPLv2.1+
Website gnutls.org

GnuTLS (/ˈɡnuː ˌtiː ˌɛl ˈɛs/, the GNU Transport Layer Security Library) is a free software implementation of the TLS, SSL and DTLS protocols. It offers an application programming interface (API) for applications to enable secure communication over the network transport layer, as well as interfaces to access X.509, PKCS #12, OpenPGP and other structures.

Features

GnuTLS consists of a library that allows client applications to start secure sessions using the available protocols. It also provides command-line tools, including an X.509 certificate manager, a test client and server, and random key and password generators. As of 2011 administrators can configure Apache web server to use GnuTLS so as to support TLS 1.2.[3]

GnuTLS has the following features:

History

Origin

GnuTLS was initially created around March 2003[6] by Nikos Mavrogiannopoulos to allow applications of the GNU Project to use secure protocols such as TLS. Although OpenSSL already existed, OpenSSL's license is not compatible with the GPL;[7] thus software under the GPL, such as GNU software, could not use OpenSSL without making a GPL linking exception.

License

The GnuTLS library was licensed originally under the GNU Lesser General Public License v2, while included applications use the GNU General Public License.

In August 2011 the library was updated to the LGPLv3.[8] After it was noticed[9] that there were new license compatibility problems introduced, especially with other free software with the license change, after discussions the license was downgraded again to LGPLv2.1 in March 2013.[10]

Split from the GNU/FSF

Originally created for the GNU Project, its maintainer disassociated it from GNU in December 2012 after disputes with the Free Software Foundation over certain policies.[11][12] This step was followed by the GNU Sed maintainer Paolo Bonzini on end of December 2012 who put down his maintainership.[13]

Deployment

Software packages using GnuTLS include(d):

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ The GNU Transport Layer Security Library
  4. ↑ RFC 6091
  5. ↑ The GnuTLS Transport Layer Security Library
  6. ↑ Changelog 0.0.5
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Version 2.99.4 (released 2011-07-23)[... ** libgnutls: license upgraded to LGPLv3]
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 2013-03-14 Nikos Mavrogiannopoulos (nmav@gnutls.org) * COPYING.LESSER, README: gnutls 3.1.10 is LGPLv2.1
  11. ↑ GnuTLS, copyright assignment, and GNU project governance on lwn.net by Michael Kerrisk (December 20, 2012)
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Subject: GNU sed 4.2.2 released, and a rant from the maintainer on gmane.comp.lang.smalltalk.gnu.general by Paolo Bonzini (on 2012-12-22)
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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