What is new in OpenSC
OpenSC has split into several smaller parts so maintenance becomes easier:
- OpenSC itself - the opensc and pkcs15init library, the PKCS#11 module and the tools.
- libp11 - a new library designed to make using smart cards easier. Works with OpenSC PKCS#11 and every other PKCS#11 module.
- pam_p11 - a new plugable authenticaion module so you can log in with your smart card. Uses libp11.
- engine_pkcs11 - the well known sslengine for using PKCS#11 modules is now a standalone project. It also uses libp11.
The last major OpenSC release was nearly a year ago. With several smaller modules we hope to release new versions much faster.
Documentation
OpenSC documentation is now managed in the wiki web page at http://www.opensc-project.org/opensc/. The old manual is still included, but it is deprecated and all content will be moved to the wiki page (most likely all content is already there).
OpenSC man pages are now in xml format and rendered to man and html. The tar file includes both versions, the html version is also online at http://www.opensc-project.org/doc/opensc/html/
Incompatible
You need to recompile applications using OpenSC as the ABI changed. OpenSC 0.9.* had the library version 1.0.0, OpenSC 0.10.* uses library version 2.0.0. Also you need to upgrade your config file, as we added some new sections / parameters. Most important: you need to point to your profile dir using that setting in your config file.
Now OpenSC installs all libraries and opensc-pkcs11.so in the lib/ directory. Older versions installed those files in lib/, in lib/opensc/ or in lib/pkcs11/ and caused some confusion, or even didn't work at all. Now all files are in lib/. If you have applications using opensc-pkcs11.so, you might need to adjust the configuration to reflect this change.
New drivers
New drivers include the belpic driver for belgium eid cards (thanks to Belgium and Zetes), the atrust-acos driver for Austrian eID cards (thanks to A-Trust) and an improved tcos driver for tcos cards including german signature cards (thanks to Peter Koch).
New Pinpad support
OpenSC now implements the new PCSC v2 Part 10 standard for entering pins on the pinpad (thanks to Martin Paljak).
New Windows binaries
Maybe you already noticed, we now have a new windows package called smart card bundle containing OpenSC, OpenSSL, Putty and Pageant, so you can use smart cards on windows easily. We also highly recommend the CSP#11 cryptographic software provider for windows, so you can use OpenSC with native applications like Internet Explorer or Outlook.
New installer for Apple Mac OS X
This is a new package. This is in early stage, and does currently only include OpenSC, we will add more parts in future version. More info here