upgrading openssl
 

Greetings!
I have a Fedora Core 3 system running openssl-0.9.7. I would like to upgrade to openssl-0.9.8, but am curious if there is a safe way to do this.

I have a single piece of software I wish to compile on this system against 0.9.8 while still simultaneously maintaining the existing software linked against 0.9.7 on the system.

Or, if the libraries are compatible, I would opt to overwrite. Can software linked against 0.9.7 be run against 0.9.8 without a recompile? Or is that risky business?

The binaries supplied with the distribution were all compiled against the existing version of openssl, and I don't want to break any dependencies, nor do I wish to recompile everything. An en-mass operating system upgrade is, unfortunately, out of the question (if it were a possibility, I wouldn't even be asking here).

I would be fine with installing openssl-0.9.8 alongside 0.9.7, so long as I can be certain that something in the new version doesn't overwrite something in the old when I do an install.

I could also install in a jail somewhere, /usr/local/, /opt/, /usr/openssl-0.9.8/ or something like that.

Any thoughts/opinions?

while you wait for a better reply .....2 options

1) save your partition with partimage...then do a install as per below...and if everything works no worries

2) install your system into a emulator...I now prefer
www.virtualbox.org its fast and can be used by a non-root user

3) I do not use FC but the key to overwrite is not to....until you check how your openssl is called

eg my notes on mdv show I had to modify the config to

./config --prefix=/usr/ --opendir= /usr/lib/oopenssl
then its
make && make test && make install

then I checked that I had the executable here
/usr/lib/openssl....the same as the old mdv FHS

Naturally this was a 098e compile and you will have to check your own FHS.