Introducing Ossl4Pas: A Native Pascal API for OpenSSL

[tregubovav-dev]

Hi everyone,

I've been diving into a new project called Ossl4Pas that I'm excited to share with you all.

After spending some time reviewing existing OpenSSL headers for Pascal, it struck me how "C-like" they feel. Managing raw pointers and macros isn't exactly in line with the elegant Pascal way.

Earlier this year, I wrote a Proof of Concept that gave me confidence that OpenSSL can be wrapped in Pascal types that hide the complexity under the hood. This approach adds strict type checks and significantly reduces memory-related errors.

I decided to create Ossl4Pas to tackle this head-on. The goal is to provide a Native Pascal API that embraces OOP principles. By neatly wrapping the complicated OpenSSL 3.x internals into clean classes and records, we get the benefits of type safety and organized namespaces—think TOsslBio.Ctrl.Reset instead of dealing with flat global functions.

A few cool things about it:

• Modern Syntax: Thanks to managed records and helpers, the code remains clean while keeping the runtime footprint minimal.
• Strictly OpenSSL 3.x: No legacy 1.x baggage here.
• Mobile Friendly: It's designed for standard DLLs, but also supports Static Linking (primarily for iOS) and Delphi Dynamic Packages (.bpl) for wrapping static code (making life easier for macOS and Android developers).

How does this fit with TaurusTLS?
To clarify, this does not replace TaurusTLS. Taurus is our comprehensive suite, while Ossl4Pas serves as a low-level wrapper for the crypto engine—think of it as a solid building block.

A Proposal
At the moment, Ossl4Pas lives in my personal GitHub (link below). However, since this aligns so closely with our work, I'd love to move the repository under the TaurusTLS-Developers organization if you think it fits.

I'm eager for you all to check it out! Please feel free to tear it apart, share your thoughts, or help build it out. It's still in the early days (Delphi 10.4+ support is in, and FPC is planned), so there's plenty of room for contributions.

Repo: Ossl4Pas GitHub

Looking forward to your thoughts and suggestions!