Get Involved

There are many ways to be a part of the OpenSSL Mission:

• OpenSSL invites its communities to be involved in shaping the future of the Project.

  • To give feedback, discuss the future of the project or just observe, we encourage people to join a sub-community that aligns with their affiliations:
    • Academics
    • Committers
    • Distributions
    • Individuals
    • Large Businesses
    • Small Businesses
  • The Business Advisory Committee (BAC) is elected from members of those communities and advises the Foundation on business matters.
  • The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) advises the Foundation on technical matters. See the TAC election timeline.
  • In addition, there is a General Discussion group for all the sub-communities to come together.

• OpenSSL is an open source project, so we welcome contributions.

  • Issues labeled are a great place to start.
  • If you want to make a bigger impact, look through the list of issues.
  • Read the OpenSSL Guide for a technical overview of the OpenSSL library.
  • Before you make your first Pull Request (PR), be sure to read How to contribute to OpenSSL.

• Follow the OpenSSL Community Discussions.

  • You can subscribe to Discussions on GitHub. Be sure to customize your email notifications.
  • There is also a Discussion RSS feed.
  • Ask our community if you have questions about OpenSSL. (Answering is a good way to learn more about the library too.)

• When the project stated in 1998, the OpenSSL community primarily communicated via mailing lists.

  • The conversation has moved GitHub issues or discussion posts.
  • For project history, consult the email archives.
  • For occasional project announcements such as security advisories and new releases, subscribe to openssl-announce.

• The OpenSSL Project has a YouTube channel with a series of tutorials, including:

  • Getting Started with OpenSSL
  • Writing an OpenSSL application

• The first OpenSSL Conference happened in October, 2025.

  • Slides for the talks are available via the conference agenda.
  • The OpenSSL Conference has a separate YouTube channel where you can see all the recorded talks a few weeks after the conference.

• Take a short survey to tell us how you use OpenSSL in the wild.