Did you know that you can build Qt 5.12 and 5.13 against the wolfSSL embedded SSL/TLS library instead of the default OpenSSL backend? Using wolfSSL as a TLS provider in Qt can have many advantages, depending on application and industry. Some of these may include:
- Progressive TLS protocol support (up to TLS 1.3)
- Smaller footprint size (wolfSSL is up to 20 times smaller than OpenSSL)
- Extensive testing (wolfSSL is the best-tested SSL/TLS implementation available today)
- Certifications (FIPS 140-2 / 140-3, DO-178C)
- Portability (wolfSSL supports over 30 operating systems)
- Hardware cryptography support
- Commercial support
- Consulting services and training available
To compile wolfSSL for Qt, wolfSSL includes a configure option named --enable-qt. To compile Qt with the wolfSSL, first obtain the Qt patch file from wolfSSL (contact us at facts@wolfssl.com), then follow the steps below:
1. Follow the Building Qt Guide to download needed Qt dependencies and initialize the Qt repository.
2. Change directories into the qt5 directory and checkout a branch between 5.12-5.13.
$ cd qt5 $ git checkout [branch_name]
3. Apply the wolfSSL Qt patch file to qt5.
$ cd qt5/qtbase $ patch -p1 < /path/to/wolfssl_qt_src.patch
4. Link to wolfSSL directly by setting the WOLFSSL_LIBS variable.
$ export WOLFSSL_LIBS="-L/path/to/wolf-install/lib -lwolfssl"
5. Configure Qt using the “-wolfssl-linked” option, and add wolfSSL header directories to the include path.
$ ./configure -wolfssl-linked -I/path/to/wolf-install/include/wolfssl -I/path/to/wolf-install/include
6. Build Qt.
$ make
7. Test the build.
$ make test
8. Or, run tests individually:
$ qtbase/tests/auto/network/ssl/qsslcertificate/tst_qsslcertificate $ qtbase/tests/auto/network/ssl/qasn1element/tst_qasn1element $ qtbase/tests/auto/network/ssl/qpassworddigestor/tst_qpassworddigestor $ qtbase/tests/auto/network/ssl/qsslcipher/tst_qsslcipher $ qtbase/tests/auto/network/ssl/qssldiffiehellmanparameters/tst_qssldiffiehellmanparameters $ qtbase/tests/auto/network/ssl/qsslellipticcurve/tst_qsslellipticcurve $ qtbase/tests/auto/network/ssl/qsslerror/tst_qsslerror $ qtbase/tests/auto/network/ssl/qsslkey/tst_qsslkey $ qtbase/tests/auto/network/ssl/qsslsocket/tst_qsslsocket $ qtbase/tests/auto/network/ssl/qsslsocket_onDemandCertificates_member/tst_qsslsocket_onDemandCertificates_member $ qtbase/tests/auto/network/ssl/qsslsocket_onDemandCertificates_static/tst_qsslsocket_onDemandCertificates_static
If you have any questions or run into any issues, contact us at facts@wolfssl.com, or call us at +1 425 245 8247.