[B<-out filename>]
[B<-serial>]
[B<-hash>]
+[B<-subject_hash>]
+[B<-issuer_hash>]
+[B<-ocspid>]
[B<-subject>]
[B<-issuer>]
+[B<-nameopt option>]
+[B<-email>]
+[B<-ocsp_uri>]
[B<-startdate>]
[B<-enddate>]
[B<-purpose>]
[B<-dates>]
+[B<-checkend num>]
[B<-modulus>]
+[B<-pubkey>]
[B<-fingerprint>]
[B<-alias>]
[B<-noout>]
[B<-addreject arg>]
[B<-setalias arg>]
[B<-days arg>]
+[B<-set_serial n>]
[B<-signkey filename>]
+[B<-passin arg>]
[B<-x509toreq>]
[B<-req>]
[B<-CA filename>]
[B<-CAkey filename>]
[B<-CAcreateserial>]
[B<-CAserial filename>]
+[B<-force_pubkey key>]
[B<-text>]
+[B<-certopt option>]
[B<-C>]
[B<-md2|-md5|-sha1|-mdc2>]
[B<-clrext>]
[B<-extfile filename>]
[B<-extensions section>]
+[B<-engine id>]
=head1 DESCRIPTION
Since there are a large number of options they will split up into
various sections.
+=head1 OPTIONS
-=head1 INPUT, OUTPUT AND GENERAL PURPOSE OPTIONS
+=head2 INPUT, OUTPUT AND GENERAL PURPOSE OPTIONS
=over 4
the digest to use. This affects any signing or display option that uses a message
digest, such as the B<-fingerprint>, B<-signkey> and B<-CA> options. If not
-specified then MD5 is used. If the key being used to sign with is a DSA key then
-this option has no effect: SHA1 is always used with DSA keys.
+specified then SHA1 is used. If the key being used to sign with is a DSA key
+then this option has no effect: SHA1 is always used with DSA keys.
+=item B<-engine id>
+
+specifying an engine (by its unique B<id> string) will cause B<x509>
+to attempt to obtain a functional reference to the specified engine,
+thus initialising it if needed. The engine will then be set as the default
+for all available algorithms.
=back
-=head1 DISPLAY OPTIONS
+=head2 DISPLAY OPTIONS
Note: the B<-alias> and B<-purpose> options are also display options
-but are described in the B<TRUST OPTIONS> section.
+but are described in the B<TRUST SETTINGS> section.
=over 4
public key, signature algorithms, issuer and subject names, serial number
any extensions present and any trust settings.
+=item B<-certopt option>
+
+customise the output format used with B<-text>. The B<option> argument can be
+a single option or multiple options separated by commas. The B<-certopt> switch
+may be also be used more than once to set multiple options. See the B<TEXT OPTIONS>
+section for more information.
+
=item B<-noout>
this option prevents output of the encoded version of the request.
+=item B<-pubkey>
+
+outputs the the certificate's SubjectPublicKeyInfo block in PEM format.
+
=item B<-modulus>
this option prints out the value of the modulus of the public key
outputs the certificate serial number.
-=item B<-hash>
+=item B<-subject_hash>
outputs the "hash" of the certificate subject name. This is used in OpenSSL to
form an index to allow certificates in a directory to be looked up by subject
name.
+=item B<-issuer_hash>
+
+outputs the "hash" of the certificate issuer name.
+
+=item B<-ocspid>
+
+outputs the OCSP hash values for the subject name and public key.
+
+=item B<-hash>
+
+synonym for "-subject_hash" for backward compatibility reasons.
+
+=item B<-subject_hash_old>
+
+outputs the "hash" of the certificate subject name using the older algorithm
+as used by OpenSSL versions before 1.0.0.
+
+=item B<-issuer_hash_old>
+
+outputs the "hash" of the certificate issuer name using the older algorithm
+as used by OpenSSL versions before 1.0.0.
+
=item B<-subject>
outputs the subject name.
outputs the issuer name.
+=item B<-nameopt option>
+
+option which determines how the subject or issuer names are displayed. The
+B<option> argument can be a single option or multiple options separated by
+commas. Alternatively the B<-nameopt> switch may be used more than once to
+set multiple options. See the B<NAME OPTIONS> section for more information.
+
+=item B<-email>
+
+outputs the email address(es) if any.
+
+=item B<-ocsp_uri>
+
+outputs the OCSP responder address(es) if any.
+
=item B<-startdate>
prints out the start date of the certificate, that is the notBefore date.
prints out the start and expiry dates of a certificate.
+=item B<-checkend arg>
+
+checks if the certificate expires within the next B<arg> seconds and exits
+non-zero if yes it will expire or zero if not.
+
=item B<-fingerprint>
-prints out the digest of the DER encoded version of the whole certificate.
+prints out the digest of the DER encoded version of the whole certificate
+(see digest options).
=item B<-C>
=back
-=head1 TRUST SETTINGS
+=head2 TRUST SETTINGS
Please note these options are currently experimental and may well change.
=back
-=head1 SIGNING OPTIONS
+=head2 SIGNING OPTIONS
The B<x509> utility can be used to sign certificates and requests: it
can thus behave like a "mini CA".
is created using the supplied private key using the subject name in
the request.
+=item B<-passin arg>
+
+the key password source. For more information about the format of B<arg>
+see the B<PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS> section in L<openssl(1)|openssl(1)>.
+
=item B<-clrext>
delete any extensions from a certificate. This option is used when a
by default a certificate is expected on input. With this option a
certificate request is expected instead.
+=item B<-set_serial n>
+
+specifies the serial number to use. This option can be used with either
+the B<-signkey> or B<-CA> options. If used in conjunction with the B<-CA>
+option the serial number file (as specified by the B<-CAserial> or
+B<-CAcreateserial> options) is not used.
+
+The serial number can be decimal or hex (if preceded by B<0x>). Negative
+serial numbers can also be specified but their use is not recommended.
+
=item B<-CA filename>
specifies the CA certificate to be used for signing. When this option is
".srl" appended. For example if the CA certificate file is called
"mycacert.pem" it expects to find a serial number file called "mycacert.srl".
-=item B<-CAcreateserial filename>
+=item B<-CAcreateserial>
with this option the CA serial number file is created if it does not exist:
it will contain the serial number "02" and the certificate being signed will
the section to add certificate extensions from. If this option is not
specified then the extensions should either be contained in the unnamed
(default) section or the default section should contain a variable called
-"extensions" which contains the section to use.
+"extensions" which contains the section to use. See the
+L<x509v3_config(5)|x509v3_config(5)> manual page for details of the
+extension section format.
+
+=item B<-force_pubkey key>
+
+when a certificate is created set its public key to B<key> instead of the
+key in the certificate or certificate request. This option is useful for
+creating certificates where the algorithm can't normally sign requests, for
+example DH.
+
+The format or B<key> can be specified using the B<-keyform> option.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 NAME OPTIONS
+
+The B<nameopt> command line switch determines how the subject and issuer
+names are displayed. If no B<nameopt> switch is present the default "oneline"
+format is used which is compatible with previous versions of OpenSSL.
+Each option is described in detail below, all options can be preceded by
+a B<-> to turn the option off. Only the first four will normally be used.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item B<compat>
+
+use the old format. This is equivalent to specifying no name options at all.
+
+=item B<RFC2253>
+
+displays names compatible with RFC2253 equivalent to B<esc_2253>, B<esc_ctrl>,
+B<esc_msb>, B<utf8>, B<dump_nostr>, B<dump_unknown>, B<dump_der>,
+B<sep_comma_plus>, B<dn_rev> and B<sname>.
+
+=item B<oneline>
+
+a oneline format which is more readable than RFC2253. It is equivalent to
+specifying the B<esc_2253>, B<esc_ctrl>, B<esc_msb>, B<utf8>, B<dump_nostr>,
+B<dump_der>, B<use_quote>, B<sep_comma_plus_space>, B<space_eq> and B<sname>
+options.
+
+=item B<multiline>
+
+a multiline format. It is equivalent B<esc_ctrl>, B<esc_msb>, B<sep_multiline>,
+B<space_eq>, B<lname> and B<align>.
+
+=item B<esc_2253>
+
+escape the "special" characters required by RFC2253 in a field That is
+B<,+"E<lt>E<gt>;>. Additionally B<#> is escaped at the beginning of a string
+and a space character at the beginning or end of a string.
+
+=item B<esc_ctrl>
+
+escape control characters. That is those with ASCII values less than
+0x20 (space) and the delete (0x7f) character. They are escaped using the
+RFC2253 \XX notation (where XX are two hex digits representing the
+character value).
+
+=item B<esc_msb>
+
+escape characters with the MSB set, that is with ASCII values larger than
+127.
+
+=item B<use_quote>
+
+escapes some characters by surrounding the whole string with B<"> characters,
+without the option all escaping is done with the B<\> character.
+
+=item B<utf8>
+
+convert all strings to UTF8 format first. This is required by RFC2253. If
+you are lucky enough to have a UTF8 compatible terminal then the use
+of this option (and B<not> setting B<esc_msb>) may result in the correct
+display of multibyte (international) characters. Is this option is not
+present then multibyte characters larger than 0xff will be represented
+using the format \UXXXX for 16 bits and \WXXXXXXXX for 32 bits.
+Also if this option is off any UTF8Strings will be converted to their
+character form first.
+
+=item B<ignore_type>
+
+this option does not attempt to interpret multibyte characters in any
+way. That is their content octets are merely dumped as though one octet
+represents each character. This is useful for diagnostic purposes but
+will result in rather odd looking output.
+
+=item B<show_type>
+
+show the type of the ASN1 character string. The type precedes the
+field contents. For example "BMPSTRING: Hello World".
+
+=item B<dump_der>
+
+when this option is set any fields that need to be hexdumped will
+be dumped using the DER encoding of the field. Otherwise just the
+content octets will be displayed. Both options use the RFC2253
+B<#XXXX...> format.
+
+=item B<dump_nostr>
+
+dump non character string types (for example OCTET STRING) if this
+option is not set then non character string types will be displayed
+as though each content octet represents a single character.
+
+=item B<dump_all>
+
+dump all fields. This option when used with B<dump_der> allows the
+DER encoding of the structure to be unambiguously determined.
+
+=item B<dump_unknown>
+
+dump any field whose OID is not recognised by OpenSSL.
+
+=item B<sep_comma_plus>, B<sep_comma_plus_space>, B<sep_semi_plus_space>,
+B<sep_multiline>
+
+these options determine the field separators. The first character is
+between RDNs and the second between multiple AVAs (multiple AVAs are
+very rare and their use is discouraged). The options ending in
+"space" additionally place a space after the separator to make it
+more readable. The B<sep_multiline> uses a linefeed character for
+the RDN separator and a spaced B<+> for the AVA separator. It also
+indents the fields by four characters.
+
+=item B<dn_rev>
+
+reverse the fields of the DN. This is required by RFC2253. As a side
+effect this also reverses the order of multiple AVAs but this is
+permissible.
+
+=item B<nofname>, B<sname>, B<lname>, B<oid>
+
+these options alter how the field name is displayed. B<nofname> does
+not display the field at all. B<sname> uses the "short name" form
+(CN for commonName for example). B<lname> uses the long form.
+B<oid> represents the OID in numerical form and is useful for
+diagnostic purpose.
+
+=item B<align>
+
+align field values for a more readable output. Only usable with
+B<sep_multiline>.
+
+=item B<space_eq>
+
+places spaces round the B<=> character which follows the field
+name.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 TEXT OPTIONS
+
+As well as customising the name output format, it is also possible to
+customise the actual fields printed using the B<certopt> options when
+the B<text> option is present. The default behaviour is to print all fields.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item B<compatible>
+
+use the old format. This is equivalent to specifying no output options at all.
+
+=item B<no_header>
+
+don't print header information: that is the lines saying "Certificate" and "Data".
+
+=item B<no_version>
+
+don't print out the version number.
+
+=item B<no_serial>
+
+don't print out the serial number.
+
+=item B<no_signame>
+
+don't print out the signature algorithm used.
+
+=item B<no_validity>
+
+don't print the validity, that is the B<notBefore> and B<notAfter> fields.
+
+=item B<no_subject>
+
+don't print out the subject name.
+
+=item B<no_issuer>
+
+don't print out the issuer name.
+
+=item B<no_pubkey>
+
+don't print out the public key.
+
+=item B<no_sigdump>
+
+don't give a hexadecimal dump of the certificate signature.
+
+=item B<no_aux>
+
+don't print out certificate trust information.
+
+=item B<no_extensions>
+
+don't print out any X509V3 extensions.
+
+=item B<ext_default>
+
+retain default extension behaviour: attempt to print out unsupported certificate extensions.
+
+=item B<ext_error>
+
+print an error message for unsupported certificate extensions.
+
+=item B<ext_parse>
+
+ASN1 parse unsupported extensions.
+
+=item B<ext_dump>
+
+hex dump unsupported extensions.
+
+=item B<ca_default>
+
+the value used by the B<ca> utility, equivalent to B<no_issuer>, B<no_pubkey>, B<no_header>,
+B<no_version>, B<no_sigdump> and B<no_signame>.
=back
openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -serial
+Display the certificate subject name:
+
+ openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -subject
+
+Display the certificate subject name in RFC2253 form:
+
+ openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -subject -nameopt RFC2253
+
+Display the certificate subject name in oneline form on a terminal
+supporting UTF8:
+
+ openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -subject -nameopt oneline,-esc_msb
+
Display the certificate MD5 fingerprint:
openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -fingerprint
Convert a certificate request into a self signed certificate using
extensions for a CA:
- openssl x509 -req -in careq.pem -config openssl.cnf -extensions v3_ca \
+ openssl x509 -req -in careq.pem -extfile openssl.cnf -extensions v3_ca \
-signkey key.pem -out cacert.pem
Sign a certificate request using the CA certificate above and add user
certificate extensions:
- openssl x509 -req -in req.pem -config openssl.cnf -extensions v3_usr \
+ openssl x509 -req -in req.pem -extfile openssl.cnf -extensions v3_usr \
-CA cacert.pem -CAkey key.pem -CAcreateserial
Set a certificate to be trusted for SSL client use and change set its alias to
"Steve's Class 1 CA"
- openssl x509 -in cert.pem -addtrust sslclient \
- -alias "Steve's Class 1 CA" -out trust.pem
+ openssl x509 -in cert.pem -addtrust clientAuth \
+ -setalias "Steve's Class 1 CA" -out trust.pem
=head1 NOTES
The PEM format uses the header and footer lines:
- -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----
- -----END CERTIFICATE----
+ -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
+ -----END CERTIFICATE-----
it will also handle files containing:
- -----BEGIN X509 CERTIFICATE----
- -----END X509 CERTIFICATE----
+ -----BEGIN X509 CERTIFICATE-----
+ -----END X509 CERTIFICATE-----
Trusted certificates have the lines
- -----BEGIN TRUSTED CERTIFICATE----
- -----END TRUSTED CERTIFICATE----
+ -----BEGIN TRUSTED CERTIFICATE-----
+ -----END TRUSTED CERTIFICATE-----
+
+The conversion to UTF8 format used with the name options assumes that
+T61Strings use the ISO8859-1 character set. This is wrong but Netscape
+and MSIE do this as do many certificates. So although this is incorrect
+it is more likely to display the majority of certificates correctly.
The B<-fingerprint> option takes the digest of the DER encoded certificate.
This is commonly called a "fingerprint". Because of the nature of message
The Netscape fingerprint uses MD5 whereas MSIE uses SHA1.
+The B<-email> option searches the subject name and the subject alternative
+name extension. Only unique email addresses will be printed out: it will
+not print the same address more than once.
+
=head1 CERTIFICATE EXTENSIONS
The B<-purpose> option checks the certificate extensions and determines
=head1 BUGS
-The way DNs are printed is in a "historical SSLeay" format which doesn't
-follow any published standard. It should follow some standard like RFC2253
-or RFC1779 with options to make the stuff more readable.
-
Extensions in certificates are not transferred to certificate requests and
vice versa.
dates rather than an offset from the current time.
The code to implement the verify behaviour described in the B<TRUST SETTINGS>
-is currently being developed. It thus describes the intended behavior rather
+is currently being developed. It thus describes the intended behaviour rather
than the current behaviour. It is hoped that it will represent reality in
OpenSSL 0.9.5 and later.
=head1 SEE ALSO
L<req(1)|req(1)>, L<ca(1)|ca(1)>, L<genrsa(1)|genrsa(1)>,
-L<gendsa(1)|gendsa(1)>, L<verify(1)|verify(1)>
+L<gendsa(1)|gendsa(1)>, L<verify(1)|verify(1)>,
+L<x509v3_config(5)|x509v3_config(5)>
+
+=head1 HISTORY
+
+Before OpenSSL 0.9.8, the default digest for RSA keys was MD5.
+
+The hash algorithm used in the B<-subject_hash> and B<-issuer_hash> options
+before OpenSSL 1.0.0 was based on the deprecated MD5 algorithm and the encoding
+of the distinguished name. In OpenSSL 1.0.0 and later it is based on a
+canonical version of the DN using SHA1. This means that any directories using
+the old form must have their links rebuilt using B<c_rehash> or similar.
=cut