--- /dev/null
+Record Layer Design
+===================
+
+This file provides some guidance on the thinking behind the design of the
+record layer code to aid future maintenance.
+
+The record layer is divided into a number of components. At the time of writing
+there are four: SSL3_RECORD, SSL3_BUFFER, DLTS1_BITMAP and RECORD_LAYER. Each
+of these components is defined by:
+1) A struct definition of the same name as the component
+2) A set of source files that define the functions for that component
+3) A set of accessor macros
+
+All struct definitions are in record.h. The functions and macros are either
+defined in record.h or record_locl.h dependent on whether they are intended to
+be private to the record layer, or whether they form part of the API to the rest
+of libssl.
+
+The source files map to components as follows:
+
+dtls1_bitmap.c -> DTLS1_BITMAP component
+ssl3_buffer.c -> SSL3_BUFFER component
+ssl3_record.c -> SSL3_RECORD component
+rec_layer_s23.c, rec_layer_s3.c, rec_layer_d1.c -> RECORD_LAYER component
+
+The RECORD_LAYER component is a facade pattern, i.e. it provides a simplified
+interface to the record layer for the rest of libssl. The other 3 components are
+entirely private to the record layer and therefore should never be accessed
+directly by libssl.
+
+Any component can directly access its own members - they are private to that
+component, e.g. ssl3_buffer.c can access members of the SSL3_BUFFER struct
+without using a macro. No component can directly access the members of another
+component, e.g. ssl3_buffer cannot reach inside the RECORD_LAYER component to
+directly access its members. Instead components use accessor macros, so if code
+in ssl3_buffer.c wants to access the members of the RECORD_LAYER it uses the
+RECORD_LAYER_* macros.
+
+Conceptually it looks like this:
+
+ libssl
+ |
+---------------------------|-----record.h--------------------------------------
+ |
+ _______V______________
+ | |
+ | RECORD_LAYER |
+ | |
+ | rec_layer_s23.c |
+ | ^ |
+ | | |
+ | rec_layer_s3.c |
+ | ^ |
+ | _________|__________ |
+ || ||
+ || DTLS1_RECORD_LAYER ||
+ || ||
+ || rec_layer_d1.c ||
+ ||____________________||
+ |______________________|
+ record_locl.h ^ ^ ^
+ _________________| | |_________________
+ | | |
+ _____V_________ ______V________ _______V________
+ | | | | | |
+ | SSL3_BUFFER | | SSL3_RECORD | | DTLS1_BITMAP |
+ | |--->| | | |
+ | ssl3_buffer.c | | ssl3_record.c | | dtls1_bitmap.c |
+ |_______________| |_______________| |________________|
+
+
+The three RECORD_LAYER source files build progressively on each other, i.e.
+the simplest is rec_layer_s23.c. This provides the most basic functions used
+for version negotiation. Next rec_layer_s3.c adds the SSL/TLS layer. Finally
+rec_layer_d1.c builds off of the SSL/TLS code to provide DTLS specific
+capabilities. It uses some DTLS specific RECORD_LAYER component members which
+should only be accessed from rec_layer_d1.c. These are held in the
+DTLS1_RECORD_LAYER struct.