Why does getting a URL from the US Patent & Trademark Office return an SSL error in Livecode?

Question

A Livecode script:

get URL "https://www.uspto.gov/patent/laws-and-regulations/patent-term-extension/patent-terms-extended-under-35-usc-156"

Winds up with the following in "the result":

 tsneterr: (56) SSLRead() return error -9806

I tried setting libURLSetSSLVerification to both true and false, but got the same error each time. Any ideas why this is happening, and is there a solution?

Answer 1

You might want to try tsNetVerifySSLPeer false

instead of libURLSetSSLVerification false.

It is probable that libURLSetSSLVerification has no effect on tsNET, since libURL uses a completely different library from tsNet.

Answer 2

I put your question to the developer of the tsNet library, Charles Warwick. He sent me this answer, which I am posting for your information. Hope you find it helpful.

This seems to be an issue which has come up a few times over the years with the curl library.

It appears to be specific to when curl is compiled on OS X to use the Mac SSL library, rather than OpenSSL.

I am guessing you are trying this on a Mac?

I have tested a build of tsNet under OS X that uses OpenSSL instead, and the issue goes away. Unfortunately, building tsNet to use OpenSSL on Mac would mean that it no longer uses the OS X certificate store for verifying SSL certificates.