6 CA.pl - friendlier interface for OpenSSL certificate programs
27 The B<CA.pl> script is a perl script that supplies the relevant command line
28 arguments to the B<openssl> command for some common certificate operations.
29 It is intended to simplify the process of certificate creation and management
30 by the use of some simple options.
32 =head1 COMMAND OPTIONS
36 =item B<?>, B<-h>, B<-help>
38 prints a usage message.
42 creates a new self signed certificate. The private key is written to the file
43 "newkey.pem" and the request written to the file "newreq.pem".
47 creates a new certificate request. The private key is written to the file
48 "newkey.pem" and the request written to the file "newreq.pem".
50 =item B<-newreq-nodes>
52 is like B<-newreq> except that the private key will not be encrypted.
56 creates a new CA hierarchy for use with the B<ca> program (or the B<-signcert>
57 and B<-xsign> options). The user is prompted to enter the filename of the CA
58 certificates (which should also contain the private key) or by hitting ENTER
59 details of the CA will be prompted for. The relevant files and directories
60 are created in a directory called "demoCA" in the current directory.
64 create a PKCS#12 file containing the user certificate, private key and CA
65 certificate. It expects the user certificate and private key to be in the
66 file "newcert.pem" and the CA certificate to be in the file demoCA/cacert.pem,
67 it creates a file "newcert.p12". This command can thus be called after the
68 B<-sign> option. The PKCS#12 file can be imported directly into a browser.
69 If there is an additional argument on the command line it will be used as the
70 "friendly name" for the certificate (which is typically displayed in the browser
71 list box), otherwise the name "My Certificate" is used.
73 =item B<-sign>, B<-signreq>, B<-xsign>
75 calls the B<ca> program to sign a certificate request. It expects the request
76 to be in the file "newreq.pem". The new certificate is written to the file
77 "newcert.pem" except in the case of the B<-xsign> option when it is written
83 this option is the same as the B<-signreq> option except it uses the configuration
84 file section B<v3_ca> and so makes the signed request a valid CA certificate. This
85 is useful when creating intermediate CA from a root CA.
89 this option is the same as B<-sign> except it expects a self signed certificate
90 to be present in the file "newreq.pem".
96 =item B<-revoke certfile [reason]>
98 revoke the certificate contained in the specified B<certfile>. An optional
99 reason may be specified, and must be one of: B<unspecified>,
100 B<keyCompromise>, B<CACompromise>, B<affiliationChanged>, B<superseded>,
101 B<cessationOfOperation>, B<certificateHold>, or B<removeFromCRL>.
105 verifies certificates against the CA certificate for "demoCA". If no certificates
106 are specified on the command line it tries to verify the file "newcert.pem".
110 one or more optional certificate file names for use with the B<-verify> command.
116 Create a CA hierarchy:
120 Complete certificate creation example: create a CA, create a request, sign
121 the request and finally create a PKCS#12 file containing it.
126 CA.pl -pkcs12 "My Test Certificate"
128 =head1 DSA CERTIFICATES
130 Although the B<CA.pl> creates RSA CAs and requests it is still possible to
131 use it with DSA certificates and requests using the L<req(1)|req(1)> command
132 directly. The following example shows the steps that would typically be taken.
134 Create some DSA parameters:
136 openssl dsaparam -out dsap.pem 1024
138 Create a DSA CA certificate and private key:
140 openssl req -x509 -newkey dsa:dsap.pem -keyout cacert.pem -out cacert.pem
142 Create the CA directories and files:
146 enter cacert.pem when prompted for the CA file name.
148 Create a DSA certificate request and private key (a different set of parameters
149 can optionally be created first):
151 openssl req -out newreq.pem -newkey dsa:dsap.pem
159 Most of the filenames mentioned can be modified by editing the B<CA.pl> script.
161 If the demoCA directory already exists then the B<-newca> command will not
162 overwrite it and will do nothing. This can happen if a previous call using
163 the B<-newca> option terminated abnormally. To get the correct behaviour
164 delete the demoCA directory if it already exists.
166 Under some environments it may not be possible to run the B<CA.pl> script
167 directly (for example Win32) and the default configuration file location may
168 be wrong. In this case the command:
172 can be used and the B<OPENSSL_CONF> environment variable changed to point to
173 the correct path of the configuration file "openssl.cnf".
175 The script is intended as a simple front end for the B<openssl> program for use
176 by a beginner. Its behaviour isn't always what is wanted. For more control over the
177 behaviour of the certificate commands call the B<openssl> command directly.
179 =head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
181 The variable B<OPENSSL_CONF> if defined allows an alternative configuration
182 file location to be specified, it should contain the full path to the
183 configuration file, not just its directory.
187 L<x509(1)|x509(1)>, L<ca(1)|ca(1)>, L<req(1)|req(1)>, L<pkcs12(1)|pkcs12(1)>,
188 L<config(5)|config(5)>