OpenSSL patents: how to know when wpa_supplicant uses patented algorithms

Jouni Malinen jkmaline at cc.hut.fi
Wed Sep 6 22:38:03 EDT 2006


On Wed, Sep 06, 2006 at 08:38:37AM -0700, George S. Lockwood wrote:

> The OpenSSL readme.txt (attached) speaks about Patents and algorithms,
> specifically the RC5 algorithm to name one here.
> 
> Does the supplicant use any of these? I suppose it does, but how to
> determine? any ideas?  Perhaps is a very vague question, perhaps you
> have a definitive answer because you have already gone through an
> effort to investigate this issue.

If you are talking about the use of these algorithms especially in
OpenSSL, you can just disable them from the OpenSSL build and they will
not be used. Supplicant does not require RC5, IDEA, or MDC2 for anything
and in general, I would just disable them in the OpenSSL build.

>  PATENTS
>  -------
> 
>  Various companies hold various patents for various algorithms in various
>  locations around the world. _YOU_ are responsible for ensuring that your use
>  of any algorithms is legal by checking if there are any patents in your
>  country.

I would certainly agree with this part of the comments in OpenSSL ;-).

-- 
Jouni Malinen                                            PGP id EFC895FA



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