
libcanlock
==========
A library for creating and verifying RFC xxxx Netnews Cancel-Locks.


1) General
libcanlock is a standalone implementation without external dependencies.
If your program already uses a library that contains functions for hash and
base64 algorithms (e.g. OpenSSL), it is recommended that you use them instead
(to avoid code duplication).


2) System requirements
- POSIX.1-2001 compliant operating system
- C99 compiler with 'int' data type of at least 32 bit width

Note:
A POSIX style operating system is required only for the build system and the
test-suite.
The code of the library and CLI utility is intended to be portable C99 (with the
exception that 16 bit platforms are not supported).


3) API
Since version 3 there is a new API available (hash algorithm independent).
Man pages for this API are installed together with the library.

Anything that is not documented should be considered as internal and not
part of the API. There is no portable way to hide all the internal stuff
completely, but expect that a future version may no longer export it without
notice.


4) Backward compatibility
The old API from version 2 is still emulated, but it is now deprecated and
undocumented.

Including the header file from the new location, recompile and relink should
be sufficient to port an existing application to version 3 of the library.
It is also possible to install both version 2 and version 3 of the library
in parallel.


5) Versioning scheme
With version 3 the release version scheme has changed.
Now the release version contains 3 numbers "x.y.z":

- Major (x)
  The major number is incremented for every API/ABI change that is not backward
  compatible.
- Minor (y)
  The minor number is incremented for API/ABI extensions that are backward
  compatible.
- Patch (z)
  The patch number is incremented for changes that don't change the API/ABI.

In other words:
Releases with the same major and minor numbers are drop-in replacements.
Up- and downgrades between such versions are possible without touching
programs that use the library.
Releases with the same major, but different minor numbers are backward,
but not forward compatible. Upgrades are possible, downgrades can break
programs that use the library.
Releases with different major numbers require changes in all programs that
use the library.


canlock
=======
Since version 3 the command line utility "canlock" is available as frontend.
The utility and a man page for it are installed together with the library.


EOF
