GnuTLS is a secure communications library implementing the SSL, TLS and DTLS protocols and technologies around them. It provides a simple C language application programming interface (API) to access the secure communications protocols as well as APIs to parse and write X.509, PKCS #12, and other required structures.

The project strives to provide a secure communications back-end, simple to use and integrated with the rest of the base Linux libraries. A back-end designed to work and be secure out of the box, keeping the complexity of TLS and PKI out of application code.