A project to create a free (LGPL), small-footprint client/server SSL library supporting TLS (transport layer security) has achieved its initial release. The axTLS library includes a CGI-enabled web server, test tools, and language binding for C#, VB.Net, Java, and Perl. Written in ANSI C, it has been tested on Linux, Win32/Cygwin, and Solaris, according to the project.

The axTLS library is highly configurable, and uses mtool, the ncurses-based configuration system used by busybox and the Linux kernel. It has four main configuration options, including:

• Basic server mode — 44KB
• Server mode with client verification — 50KB
• Client/Server — 55KB
• Client/Server with diagnostics — 63KB

axTLS's mconf-based configuration system
(Click to enlarge)
axTLS includes a CGI-enabled https server based on anti-Web, and has also been built with mini-httpd and busybox, according to the project website.

Touted features include:

• Uses TLSv1 (transport layer security, an improvement on SSLv3)
• Session resumption for high SSL performance
• AES128/AES256 for high quality encryption (as well as RC4, for resource-constrained systems, and IE6 compatibility)
• Variable RSA key sizes (512-4096 bits have been tested)
• Simple API with about 20 functions in C, and no structures
• Peer client/server verification, certificate chaining, session renegotiation
• DER/PEM ASN.1, X509v1 formats
• Highly configurable compile-time options
• Interfaces for C#, VB.NET, Java, and Perl

Availability

axTLS is available now, under the GNU LGPL. Additional details can be found on the axTLS website.

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