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OverView – OpenSC
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<h1 id="Overview">Overview</h1>
<p>
So you want to use a smart card with some application? Here is a small introductions on the parts you need.
</p>
<ul><li>Application
</li><li>Smart card library
</li><li>Middleware
</li><li>Driver for your smart card reader
</li></ul><p>
OpenSC is a smart card library. It also comes with tools to manage your smart cards.
</p>
<h2 id="ApplicationInterface">Application Interface</h2>
<p>
Applications need to use the smart card library using some interface. Unfortunatly there
are several different interfaces. PKCS#11 is a standard interface available on all operating
systems. OpenSC implements this interface as smart card library, and Applications such as Mozilla,
Firefox and Thunderbird implement it as applications. Thus you can use these applications with
OpenSC on all platforms.
</p>
<p>
Native Windows applications often use the Crypto API interface. OpenSC does not implement
the matching interface - CSP - but with the help of an additional software it does. See
<a class="wiki" href="WindowsCSP.html" shape="rect">WindowsCSP</a> for details. The advantage of Crypto API/CSP is that applications
do not need special code to use smart cards, all applications gain that feature automaticaly.
</p>
<p>
Native Mac OS X applications also have a special interface called CDSA or CSP. See
<a class="wiki" href="AppleCSP.html" shape="rect">AppleCSP</a> for details. At this moment OpenSC does not support that interface
and also there is no bridge to do so. But you can still use applications on Mac OS X
that implement the PKCS#11 interface like Mozilla, Firefox or Thunderbird.
</p>
<p>
Under Linux, BSD, Solaris and under Unix PKCS#11 is the preferred interface for all
applications.
</p>
<p>
Some Open Source applications use the non standardized native OpenSC interface directly.
These days we promote PKCS#11 as interface, but for the time being these applications
also work well with OpenSC.
</p>
<h2 id="DriverInterface">Driver Interface</h2>
<p>
Windows implements the PC/SC standard. That means OpenSC will use the PCSC interface to talk
to the middleware, and the middleware will use drivers in "IfdHandler" format to talk to the
hardware. Nearly all vendors of smart card readers ship such drivers, or the driver is even
included in Windows, so there shouldn't be any issue. OpenSC will be able to talk to your
smart card just fine.
</p>
<p>
Windows NT/2000/XP and newer include the PC/SC middleware. For older versions you need to install
an addon package from Microsoft first.
</p>
<p>
Apple/Mac OS X also implements the PC/SC standard, same situation as Windows, except few
vendors ship drivers for Mac OS X, but most smart card readers will work with the generic
driver included in Mac OS X. OpenSC will talk to the reader using the PC/SC Middleware
and thus be able to talk to your smart card just fine.
</p>
<p>
Apple includes a modified copy of pcsc-lite, an open source implementation of the PC/SC
standard. Most of the time you will be fine, but in some cases it is necessary to install
an updated version of pcsc-lite, for example if you have a smart card reader with a pinpad
and would like to use that capability.
</p>
<p>
On Linux you might want to use the open source project <a href="http://www.opensc-project.org/openct/" shape="rect">OpenCT</a>
for smart card drivers. It implements support for many drivers at the same time, is still
small and lean, and OpenSC can use it directly without the need for any middleware.
Many OpenSC developers also work on OpenCT so this combination is best tested. Most Linux
distributions include the latest version of OpenCT.
</p>
<p>
On Linux you can also use pcsc-lite and drivers in ifdhandler format. Many distributions
include pcsc-lite and some open source drivers, and some vendors also offer binary drivers
for Linux in ifdhandler format.
</p>
<p>
Solaris situation is like Linux, except Sun has some special stuff for their Sunray
terminals that contain smart card readers. You can use <a href="http://www.opensc-project.org/openct/" shape="rect">OpenCT</a>
with those terminals; source contains a solaris/ subdirectory with a README files and
additional files to make using OpenCT on solaris easy. OpenCT hides the differences,
so OpenSC works on Solaris well, just like on other plattforms.
</p>
<p>
There is also a very old interface called CT-API which was developed many years ago while
people were using DOS. It only works well if you have a single application with a single
user on your system. It is still being used for specialised machines like ticket point of
sales, but usualy not used with modern multi-user, multi-application computers. OpenSC
can use drivers in CT-API format directly, without any middleware, on all operating sytems.
</p>
<h2 id="Smartcardsupport">Smart card support</h2>
<p>
Basicaly you can get smart card in two states: either blank or initialized.
</p>
<p>
For blank cards OpenSC has code to initialize the card in PKCS#15 format.
</p>
<p>
You can't change initialized cards at all, or only with the software that
was used to initialize it. But you can use the card with OpenSC if OpenSC
knows the format. So the format has either to be PKCS#15 (very few
softwares implement that standard, however), or maybe the format was published
and OpenSC contains an emulation for that format.
</p>
<p>
Check the list on the main page to see if your card is supported. Also
check the page itself, as some cards have not been tested for a while,
or only some members of a card family are supported.
</p>
<p>
Also if you want to buy blank cards and initialize them yourself,
make sure you buy really blank cards. Many vendors have also a
half initialized version, and those can be only changed with the
vendor software, and the result is not compatible with OpenSC unless
OpenSC has an emulation code. Even then OpenSC can only offer you to
use the card, but not to alter it.
</p>
<p>
As a general rule OpenSC only supports cards with a filesystem and
cryptographic functions (RSA). That excludes nearly all Java Cards,
as they usually don't have a filesystem. Please check the
<a class="ext-link" href="http://www.musclecard.com/" shape="rect"><span class="icon"> </span>Musclecard</a> project - they offer
open source software for using many different Java Cards.
</p>
<h2 id="Technicaloverview">Technical overview</h2>
<p>
The following picture describes the overall architecture of OpenSC and external interfaces:
</p>
<p>
<a style="padding:0; border:none" href="/opensc/attachment/wiki/OverView/OpenSC.png" shape="rect"><img src="/opensc/raw-attachment/wiki/OverView/OpenSC.png" alt="OpenSC " title="OpenSC "></img></a>
</p>
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<h3>Attachments</h3>
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<a href="/opensc/attachment/wiki/OverView/OpenSC.png" title="View attachment" shape="rect">OpenSC.png</a>
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<a class="timeline" href="/opensc/timeline?from=2009-09-23T07%3A10%3A44Z&precision=second" title="2009-09-23T07:10:44Z in Timeline" shape="rect">5 months</a> ago.
<q>OpenSC</q>
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