Latest Version of Software Running on XP

[VistaLover]

1 hour ago, mina7601 said:

Then, click on the Download button

If on a UXP-based browser (Serpent 52, NM28, etc.), the "Download" button depicted is unresponsive ; it works, though, in Serpent 55 and 360EEv13.x ... If on a UXP-based browser, click on either the "Raw" button or the "View raw" link in the middle...

@Ben Markson ; Which OS do you plan to use stunnel-win32-5.70-openssl-1.1.1u on? AFAIAA, this package requires Windows Vista SP2+; I don't have an XP box to test currently, but openssl-1.1.1* alone won't load under XP, and this is a known fact in the XP communities...

Once you download the package in question, extract it with 7-zip and then inspect EXEs and DLLs with dependency walker ; I'm quite confident you'll find it has "fatal" issues under XP (assuming you want to deploy it under XP, per the thread's title ) ...

Cheers

PS: Below is a screengrab from my Vista SP2 32-bit laptop:

Edited August 4, 2023 by VistaLover
added image

[Ben Markson]

1 hour ago, mina7601 said:

Then, click on the Download button:

Thanks for the hint! Out of interest, which browser did you use? I finally got to see the screen in your screenshot but only by using Firefox 116.
 

Ben.

[mina7601]

1 minute ago, Ben Markson said:

Thanks for the hint! Out of interest, which browser did you use? I finally got to see the screen in your screenshot but only by using Firefox 116.
 

Ben.

Google Chrome 115.0.5790.171 (64-bit)

[NotHereToPlayGames]

I had to LOL the way that this hit my bookmarked link for MSFN, looked like somebody was reporting that Chrome v115 runs on XP  

[Ben Markson]

32 minutes ago, VistaLover said:

won't load under XP

Thanks for the advice. I believe the latter versions of sTunnel support TLS 1.3 (I'm currently using v5.49 – the last official 32bit version). I was interested in upgrading for the extra TLS support but I didn't really hold out that much hope.

It's kind of ironic that the very place where things like sTunnel are the most useful aren't supported.

Ben.

[mina7601]

1 hour ago, NotHereToPlayGames said:

I had to LOL the way that this hit my bookmarked link for MSFN, looked like somebody was reporting that Chrome v115 runs on XP  

No, I meant Google Chrome 115.0.5790.171 (64-bit) on my main system Windows 11. Sorry if I mislead you or anyone else, didn't mean to do this.

Edited August 4, 2023 by mina7601

[VistaLover]

49 minutes ago, Ben Markson said:

(I'm currently using v5.49 – the last official 32bit version)

That one was using openssl-1.0.2p (file version 1.0.2.16); yes, XP-compatible, but can't "do" TLSv1.3 ...

49 minutes ago, Ben Markson said:

I believe the latter versions of sTunnel support TLS 1.3
...
I was interested in upgrading for the extra TLS support, but I didn't really hold out that much hope.
It's kind of ironic that the very place where things like sTunnel are the most useful aren't supported.

Not all hope is lost for you ; if you are able to install stunnel-win32-5.70-openssl-1.1.1u under XP (can't test myself), this comes with DLLs libcrypto-1_1.dll and libssl-1_1.dll of file version 1.1.1.21; you can try to overwrite those two DLLs with the similarly named ones from this package below:

https://rwijnsma.home.xs4all.nl/files/openssl/openssl-1.1.1t-win32-xpmod-sse.7z

This package has been compiled to support XP SP3 and because it's of version 1.1.1, it also "does" TLSv1.3; as I instructed you already, you do have to check with DW (dependency walker) that the main sTunnel EXEs (stunnel.exe+tstunnel.exe) BOTH load OK under XP after the openssl DLLs have been replaced... Please report back !

Cheers.

Edited August 4, 2023 by VistaLover

[Ben Markson]

16 minutes ago, VistaLover said:

Please report back

It lives...

I didn't have to do anything special. This is using it on XP SP3 (with POSReady updates) unchanged as downloaded from https://github.com/josealf/stunnel-win32

Ben.

[VistaLover]

13 minutes ago, Ben Markson said:

I didn't have to do anything special. This is using it on XP SP3 (with POSReady updates) unchanged as downloaded from https://github.com/josealf/stunnel-win32

Thanks for your feedback ; your image proves that, at least, the main sTunnel executable launches/loads as expected in your system; what I do remain doubtful about is the correct functioning/loading of the openssl DLLs (v1.1.1u=1.1.1.21) shipped originally with the 5.70 package... Can you show a "Log Window" screenshot like the one I provided in my previous post? And, more importantly, does your current 5.70 setup work as intended for whatever you use it for?

Apologies for being somewhat pushy , this isn't just for me, the whole XP community here should be certain that:

20 minutes ago, Ben Markson said:

It lives...

Kindest regards

[Ben Markson]

Sorry about that, it's my fault for trying to do a running commentary on something I was still working on – it's what can happen when you get sucked into treating a forum like a chatroom.

I removed v5.70, it works (tested with Outlook 2002 email client) but has a weird glitch with not displaying sTunnel's tray icon and no matter what I tried I couldn't get it to appear properly. Went back to v5.60 (there's some indication in the change logs that the system tray code changed with v5.61) and the tray icon is back how it should be.

Finally, I took the v5.70 install and replaced just the stunnel.exe and tstunnel.exe files with the v5.60 versions. So, it has the later OpenSSL DLLs but is using an earlier version of stunnel. I'm not sure that this is the best idea but... it works (again tested with Outlook 2002). You can even see the weirdness in the above log (the Compiled versus Running dates).

Now, having said all that I use stunnel in a pretty basic way (I am by no means an 'expert' stunnel user) so it is possible that if you want to start creating your own certificates that it won't work. All I'm doing is keeping my ancient version of Outlook working with my email provider who is threatening ever newer TLS standards.

Ben.
 

[Ben Markson]

...time passes...

A quick postscript.

If using v5.70 there's no need to replace tstunnel.exe, it's only stunnel.exe that causes the system tray bug. The bug was introduced with v5.61 so the v5.60 stunnel.exe is the last working version.

The v5.70 stunnel.exe does work but you cannot interact with the running instance, this isn't necessarily a big deal as there's not a huge amount you can do. Stunnel runs and it does its thing without needing to interact with it.

If you want to download the exe's from github using just about any browser then you can copy the links from https://github.com/josealf/stunnel-win32 (the left hand column) for example:

 https://github.com/josealf/stunnel-win32/blob/master/stunnel-win32-5.60-openssl-1.1.1k-installer.exe

...change the 'blob' to 'raw':

 https://github.com/josealf/stunnel-win32/raw/master/stunnel-win32-5.60-openssl-1.1.1k-installer.exe

and it will download.

I'd like to find a workaround to the system tray bug but otherwise hopefully this will keep my email working in the face of any 'upgrading' my email provider may perform.

Ben.
 

 

[genieautravail]

Just for information:

stunnel 5.70 requires the SSE2 instructions set but not stunnel 5.60...

Regards

[VistaLover]

Many thanks @Ben Markson (and @genieautravail ) for your additional, most valuable, input !

On 8/5/2023 at 3:38 AM, Ben Markson said:

it's what can happen when you get sucked into treating a forum like a chatroom.

... As it's already apparent , I'm no fan myself of "chatrooms" (I think they're more "youth"-orient(at)ed), but a great fan of "forums", where one can be more verbose and analytic ; I realise, though, I belong to a minority these days ...

On 8/5/2023 at 3:38 AM, Ben Markson said:

has a weird glitch with not displaying sTunnel's tray icon and no matter what I tried, I couldn't get it to appear properly.
Went back to v5.60 (there's some indication in the change logs that the system tray code changed with v5.61)
and the tray icon is back how it should be.
...
it's only stunnel.exe that causes the system tray bug. The bug was introduced with v5.61,
so the v5.60 stunnel.exe is the last working version.
...
I'd like to find a workaround to the system tray bug

Yes, the changelog for v5.61 states:

Quote

• Double click on the icon tray replaced with single click.

... but their GitHub source repo is weirdly formatted (no individual commit messages) ; the comparison below:

https://github.com/mtrojnar/stunnel/compare/stunnel-5.60...stunnel-5.61

is very long and, being a non-coder, I wasn't able to pinpoint the breaking change(s) ; their repo also lacks an issue tracker, so nothing can be reported there ...

Their main site claims they still support Windows XP:

https://www.stunnel.org/platforms.html

Quote

Microsoft (32-bit and 64-bit editions)

•   Windows 10 / 8.1 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP

... but probably that list hasn't been updated in a while ... Besides, they no longer provide themselves x86 compiles, 32-bit platform support is now under their "Commercial Support" paid schemes :

https://www.stunnel.org/support.html

However, there exists a "free" stunnel-users mailing list here , you stand to lose nothing by posting your "issue" there ; alternatively, you can try your luck at the forked repo: 

https://github.com/josealf/stunnel-win32/issues/new

FWIW, the v5.70 tray icon appears and functions as expected in Vista SP2 32-bit: 

On 8/5/2023 at 3:38 AM, Ben Markson said:

So, it has the later OpenSSL DLLs but is using an earlier version of stunnel. I'm not sure that this is the best idea but... it works (again tested with Outlook 2002). You can even see the weirdness in the above log (the Compiled versus Running dates).

That "weirdness" is to be expected ; other than that, it does appear that openssl-1.1.1u DLLs load fine in your XP SP3 box ; I was somewhat doubtful before because I had read in the past that 1.1.1+ requires, by default, Vista SP2+ APIs to properly function; but perhaps this is relevant only for the VS2015+ compiled builds, e.g. 

https://wiki.overbyte.eu/wiki/index.php/ICS_Download

Quote

OpenSSL 1.1.1 is the latest long term support version and adds support for TLSv1.3 RFC8446 and various new cryptographic private key and hash digest types. (redacted for brevity) This version will be supported until September 2023. OpenSSL 1.1.1 only supports Windows Vista and later, not XP.

The 32-bit builds kindly provided by @josealf on GitHub are being compiled on an old GCC version (8.3.0+) with glibc-2.27 (from 2018), perhaps that's the reason NT 5.1 compatibility is being preserved in the produced binaries ...

And some final stunnel "trivia":

The last official 32-bit Windows release was, as is known, v5.49, bundled with openssl-1.0.2-fips and "the lot" compiled with VS2008, all inherently compatible with XP  ...

It's indeed kind of an irony that openssl was upgraded to v1.1.1 (TLSv1.3 capable) in the immediately next version 5.50, the first to be only offered as a win64-build  ; openssl-1.1.1* was being bundled with stunnel v5.50-5.60, while v5.61-5.70 are bundled with openssl-3.0.x (latest LTS channel); josealf's win32 builds are still stuck on the 1.1.1* LTS channel, though (to be EoL'd next month ) ...

And that concludes this ...

[Ben Markson]

6 hours ago, VistaLover said:

And that concludes this ...

I also have a copy of the source code  but, like you, couldn't really find anything useful.

As stunnel is stupidly light-weight and easy to deploy (no real install needed) I'm hoping it will keep me going for a few years yet.

Anyway, thanks for your comprehensive summary which should be useful to anyone else researching this subject. Jose Alf also deserves a little more prominence for his work.

Ben.
 

[upadi]

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