During a testbuild of openssl096b-0.9.6b-22.1 in mock, the rebuild process stops with the following error: + gcc -o openssl-thread-test -I./include -O2 -g -pipe -m64 -Wa,--noexecstack /builddir/build/SOURCES/openssl-thread-test.c lib ssl.a libcrypto.a -lpthread -lz -ldl /usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lz collect2: ld returned 1 exit status error: Bad exit status from /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.86226 (%build) Adding zlib-devel to the BuildRequires: list should fix this problem. Note: This also seems to be an issue in rawhide.
I'm sorry but this isn't serious enough for RHEL-4 to fix. The current openssl/openssl097a packages in rawhide and FC-4 are without this problem. There is no openssl096b package in FC-4 or rawhide.
I was looking at <http://cvs.fedora.redhat.com/viewcvs/rpms/openssl096b/devel/openssl.spec?view=markup>, which had the same problem. But if it's not shipped anymore... who cares? ;)