Installing OpenSSL on Ubuntu Linux

This short tutorial shows you how to install OpenSSL on Ubuntu Linux Server. The process is very simple. For this tutorial, I'll be installing openssl version 0.9.8e. Linux kernel is 2.6.15-26-powerpc. I have used a Mac Mini (powerpc/ppc architecture). GCC version number is 4.0.3. Your configuration may be different from mine but the installation steps below should work fine for most configurations with little or no change at all (including other Linux distributions and even unixes e.g. MacOS X).

OpenSSL:

"The OpenSSL Project is a collaborative effort to develop a robust, commercial–grade, full–featured, and Open Source toolkit implementing the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL v2/v3) and Transport Layer Security (TLS v1) protocols as well as a full-strength general purpose cryptography library. The project is managed by a worldwide community of volunteers that use the Internet to communicate, plan, and develop the OpenSSL toolkit and its related documentation.

OpenSSL is based on the excellent SSLeay library developed by Eric A. Young and Tim J. Hudson. The OpenSSL toolkit is licensed under an Apache-style licence, which basically means that you are free to get and use it for commercial and non-commercial purposes subject to some simple license conditions. "

Before starting, please check to see if there is a latest version available to download. Visit http://www.openssl.org/source/ to find out about the available versions. IMPORTANT: See Configuring Ubuntu Linux After Installation to install the development tools required to compile and install openssl from source code.

Steps to download, compile, and install are as follows. Note: Replace 0.9.8e with your version number:

• Downloading OpenSSL:

  Run the command below,

  wget http://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-0.9.8e.tar.gz

  Also, download the MD5 hash to verify the integrity of the downloaded file. In the same folder, where you downloaded the OpenSSL file, do the following:

  wget http://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-0.9.8e.tar.gz.md5
  md5sum openssl-0.9.8e.tar.gz
  cat openssl-0.9.8e.tar.gz.md5

  The last two commands (above) generate two strings of alpha-numeric characters. Check to see if both strings are identical or not. If not, repeat the steps above from "Downloading OpenSSL". If yes, your file has been downloaded properly. Please note that if you are using openssl for a highly secure/critical setup (or for any other reason) then you should also check the PGP signatures (not covered in this tutorial for simplicity).

• Extracting files from the downloaded package:

  tar -xvzf openssl-0.9.8e.tar.gz

  Now, enter the directory where the package is extracted.

  cd openssl-0.9.8e

• Configuring OpenSSL:

  ./config --prefix=/usr/local/openssl --openssldir=/usr/local/openssl

  Replace "/usr/local/openssl" above with the directory path where you want to copy the files and folders. Note: check for any error message.

• Compiling OpenSSL:

  make

  Note: check for any error message.

• Installing OpenSSL:

  As root (for privileges on destination directory), run the following.

  With sudo,

  sudo make install

  Without sudo,

  make install

  Note: check for any error messages.

Thats it. OpenSSL has been successfully installed.

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