Support for OpenSSL 4.0?
Although OpenSSL 4.0 released just two weeks ago, the syslog-ng project has already received a GitHub issue complaining that we do not support it. So, before we would allocate too much effort on it: what should we expect?
OpenSSL 4.0 was announced on April 14: https://openssl-library.org/post/2026-04-14-openssl-40-final-release/ However, this announcement mentions that it is NOT a long-term support (LTS) release.
This raises the question that if it is not an LTS release, then can we stay on version 3.x and skip 4.x altogether? When will Linux distributions start using it? Looking at Repology, there are already a few places where OpenSSL 4.0 is available. This includes Gentoo, the community where the GitHub issue originated from, and also various FreeBSD ports. The current list is available at: https://repology.org/project/openssl/versions
Fedora is planning to use OpenSSL 4.0 as default starting from the next release: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/OpenSSL40 However, OpenSSL 3.x will most likely stay supported for backwards compatibility.
I am also curious if there are any other projects which have added support for OpenSSL 4.0. If so, then what are your experiences? Was porting your code to use OpenSSL 4.0 difficult?
I am all in for supporting the latest technologies, but currently, even if we have an open request for OpenSSL 4.0 support, I do not feel that I have enough information to prioritize its development.
Share your thoughts with us in this syslog-ng GitHub discussion: https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/discussions/5685 or reach out to me on Twitter / Mastodon / LinkedIn.
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Originally published at https://www.syslog-ng.com/community/b/blog/posts/support-for-openssl-4-0