--- a/util/sslconfig.lua	Fri Dec 11 20:31:55 2015 +0100
+++ b/util/sslconfig.lua	Sun Dec 13 21:21:09 2015 +0100
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+-- util to easily merge multiple sets of LuaSec context options
+
 local type = type;
 local pairs = pairs;
 local rawset = rawset;
@@ -11,70 +13,93 @@
 local finalisers = { };
 local id = function (v) return v end
 
-function handlers.options(a, k, b)
-	local o = a[k] or { };
-	if type(b) ~= "table" then b = { b } end
-	for key, value in pairs(b) do
+-- All "handlers" behave like extended rawset(table, key, value) with extra
+-- processing usually merging the new value with the old in some reasonable
+-- way
+-- If a field does not have a defined handler then a new value simply
+-- replaces the old.
+
+
+-- Convert either a list or a set into a special type of set where each
+-- item is either positive or negative in order for a later set of options
+-- to be able to remove options from this set by filtering out the negative ones
+function handlers.options(config, field, new)
+	local options = config[field] or { };
+	if type(new) ~= "table" then new = { new } end
+	for key, value in pairs(new) do
 		if value == true or value == false then
-			o[key] = value;
-		else
-			o[value] = true;
+			options[key] = value;
+		else -- list item
+			options[value] = true;
 		end
 	end
-	a[k] = o;
+	config[field] = options;
 end
 
 handlers.verify = handlers.options;
 handlers.verifyext = handlers.options;
 
-function finalisers.options(a)
-	local o = {};
-	for opt, enable in pairs(a) do
+-- finalisers take something produced by handlers and return what luasec
+-- expects it to be
+
+-- Produce a list of "positive" options from the set
+function finalisers.options(options)
+	local output = {};
+	for opt, enable in pairs(options) do
 		if enable then
-			o[#o+1] = opt;
+			output[#output+1] = opt;
 		end
 	end
-	return o;
+	return output;
 end
 
 finalisers.verify = finalisers.options;
 finalisers.verifyext = finalisers.options;
 
-function finalisers.ciphers(a)
-	if type(a) == "table" then
-		return t_concat(a, ":");
+-- We allow ciphers to be a list
+
+function finalisers.ciphers(cipherlist)
+	if type(cipherlist) == "table" then
+		return t_concat(cipherlist, ":");
 	end
-	return a;
+	return cipherlist;
 end
 
+-- protocol = "x" should enable only that protocol
+-- protocol = "x+" should enable x and later versions
+
 local protocols = { "sslv2", "sslv3", "tlsv1", "tlsv1_1", "tlsv1_2" };
 for i = 1, #protocols do protocols[protocols[i] .. "+"] = i - 1; end
 
-local function protocol(a)
-	local min_protocol = protocols[a.protocol];
+-- this interacts with ssl.options as well to add no_x
+local function protocol(config)
+	local min_protocol = protocols[config.protocol];
 	if min_protocol then
-		a.protocol = "sslv23";
+		config.protocol = "sslv23";
 		for i = 1, min_protocol do
-			t_insert(a.options, "no_"..protocols[i]);
+			t_insert(config.options, "no_"..protocols[i]);
 		end
 	end
 end
 
-local function apply(a, b)
-	if type(b) == "table" then
-		for k,v in pairs(b) do
-			(handlers[k] or rawset)(a, k, v);
+-- Merge options from 'new' config into 'config'
+local function apply(config, new)
+	if type(new) == "table" then
+		for field, value in pairs(new) do
+			(handlers[field] or rawset)(config, field, value);
 		end
 	end
 end
 
-local function final(a)
-	local f = { };
-	for k,v in pairs(a) do
-		f[k] = (finalisers[k] or id)(v);
+-- Finalize the config into the form LuaSec expects
+local function final(config)
+	local output = { };
+	for field, value in pairs(config) do
+		output[field] = (finalisers[field] or id)(value);
 	end
-	protocol(f);
-	return f;
+	-- Need to handle protocols last because it adds to the options list
+	protocol(output);
+	return output;
 end
 
 local sslopts_mt = {