blowfish-init

Arguments: key &key (external-format :utf8)

Blowfish is an old cipher, designed in 1993. We recommend it not be used, because it is susceptible to various attacks and is no longer considered secure. We maintain support to allow for encrypted material to be decrypted.

Returns an object that is suitable as a value for the context keyword argument to blowfish-encrypt and blowfish-decrypt. Blowfish keys are converted to these objects as the first step in encryption or decryption. When multiple things are to be encrypted or decrypted with the same key, you can save time by passing the value returned by this function as the value of context rather than passing the actual key.

external-format: this argument specifies the external format to be used when encrypting and decrypting. Its value should be the same in calls to blowfish-encrypt and blowfish-decrypt as in the call to blowfish-init. The default is :usb-8 for all three functions.

See also blowfish-encrypt and blowfish-decrypt.

See Support for Blowfish encryption in miscellaneous.htm for information on Blowfish encryption and Blowfish encryption support in Allegro CL. There are examples of blowfish encryption and decryption in that section. Support for encryption in the same document discusses encryption support in Allegro CL in general.

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Created 2015.5.21.