bio(3) - Linux man page
Name
bio - I/O abstraction
Synopsis
#include <openssl/bio.h>TBA
Description
A BIO is an I/O abstraction, it hides many of the underlying I/O details from an application. If an application uses a BIO for its I/O it can transparently handle SSL connections, unencrypted network connections and file I/O.
There are two type of BIO , a source/sink BIO and a filter BIO .
As its name implies a source/sink BIO is a source and/or sink of data, examples include a socket BIO and a file BIO .
A filter BIO takes data from one BIO and passes it through to another, or the application. The data may be left unmodified (for example a message digest BIO ) or translated (for example an encryption BIO ). The effect of a filter BIO may change according to the I/O operation it is performing: for example an encryption BIO will encrypt data if it is being written to and decrypt data if it is being read from.
BIOs can be joined together to form a chain (a single BIO is a chain with one component). A chain normally consist of one source/sink BIO and one or more filter BIOs. Data read from or written to the first BIO then traverses the chain to the end (normally a source/sink BIO ).
See Also
bio_ctrl(3), bio_f_base64(3), bio_f_buffer(3), bio_f_cipher(3), bio_f_md(3), bio_f_null(3), bio_f_ssl(3), bio_find_type(3), bio_new(3), bio_new_bio_pair(3), bio_push(3), bio_read(3), bio_s_accept(3), bio_s_bio(3), bio_s_connect(3), bio_s_fd(3), bio_s_file(3), bio_s_mem(3), bio_s_null(3), bio_s_socket(3), bio_set_callback(3), bio_should_retry(3)