Crypt::OpenSSL::RSA is an XS perl module designed to provide basic RSA functionality. It does this by providing a glue to the RSA functions in the OpenSSL library. In particular, it provides the following functions: new_public_key, new_private_key - create a key from a string generate_key - make a new key get_private_key_string - save key to a string get_public_key_string - save public portion of key to a string get_public_key_x509_string - save public portion of key to a string, using format compatibe with OpenSSL's command-line rsa tool encrypt, decrypt, sign, verify, use_pkcs1_oaep_padding, use_pkcs1_padding, use_sslv23_padding, use_no_padding use_md5_hash, use_sha1_hash, use_ripemd160_hash size - Returns the size, in bytes, of the key. check_key - checks the validity of a key. Bugs: There is a small memory leak when generating new keys of more than 512 bits. The openssl functions RSA_public_decrypt, RSA_private_decrypt are not yet implemented. There is no Crypt::CBC support. (Reported by Max Baker ) For making under Redhat 8 or 9 you may need to supply the include path to the kerberos header files when running make make C_INCLUDE_PATH=/usr/kerberos/include NOTE: as of version 0.17, the following methods are DEPRECATED: - the no-arg new constructor - use new_from_public_key, new_from_private_key or Crypt::OpenSSL::RSA->generate_key instead - load_public_key - use new_from_public_key - load_private_key - use new_from_private_key - generate_key as an instance method - use it as a class constructor method instead. - set_padding_mode - use use_no_padding, use_pkcs1_padding, use_pkcs1_oaep_padding, or use_sslv23_padding instead. - get_padding_mode While I plan a grace period of several months at least before removing these methods, they will go away, so you should start migrating your code now. Of course, I am open to arguments why some or all of these methods should be kept around longer/permanently; feel free to send email to me at iroberts@cpan.org, or visit http://perl-openssl.sourceforge.net/. Copyright (c) 2001-2004 Ian Robertson. Crypt::OpenSSL::RSA is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.