1GKEYTOOL(1) GNU GKEYTOOL(1)
2
6 gkeytool - Manage private keys and public certificates
7
9 keytool [COMMAND] ...
10
12 Cryptographic credentials, in a Java environment, are usually stored in
13 a Key Store. The Java SDK specifies a Key Store as a persistent
14 container of two types of objects: Key Entries and Trusted
15 Certificates. The security tool keytool is a Java-based application for
16 managing those types of objects.
17 A Key Entry represents the private key part of a key-pair used in
19 Public-Key Cryptography, and a signed X.509 certificate which
20 authenticates the public key part for a known entity; i.e. the owner of
21 the key-pair. The X.509 certificate itself contains the public key part
22 of the key-pair.
23 A Trusted Certificate is a signed X.509 certificate issued by a trusted
25 entity. The Trust in this context is relative to the User of the
26 keytool. In other words, the existence of a Trusted Certificate in the
27 Key Store processed by a keytool command implies that the User trusts
28 the Issuer of that Trusted Certificate to also sign, and hence
29 authenticates, other Subjects the tool may process.
30 Trusted Certificates are important because they allow the tool to
32 mechanically construct Chains of Trust starting from one of the Trusted
33 Certificates in a Key Store and ending with a certificate whose Issuer
34 is potentially unknown. A valid chain is an ordered list, starting with
35 a Trusted Certificate (also called the anchor), ending with the target
36 certificate, and satisfying the condition that the Subject of
37 certificate "#i" is the Issuer of certificate "#i + 1".
38 The keytool is invoked from the command line as follows:
40 keytool [COMMAND] ...
42 Multiple COMMANDs may be specified at once, each complete with its own
44 options. keytool will parse all the arguments, before processing, and
45 executing, each "COMMAND". If an exception occurs while executing one
46 COMMAND keytool will abort. Note however that because the
47 implementation of the tool uses code to parse command line options that
48 also supports GNU-style options, you have to separate each command
49 group with a double-hyphen; e.g
50 keytool -list -- -printcert -alias mykey
52
54 - Add/Update commands
55 -genkey [OPTION]...
56 Generate a new Key Entry, eventually creating a new key store.
57 -import [OPTION]...
59 Add, to a key store, Key Entries (private keys and certificate
60 chains authenticating the public keys) and Trusted Certificates
61 (3rd party certificates which can be used as Trust Anchors when
62 building chains-of-trust).
63 -selfcert [OPTION]...
65 Generate a new self-signed Trusted Certificate.
66 -cacert [OPTION]...
68 Import a CA Trusted Certificate.
69 -identitydb [OPTION]...
71 NOT IMPLEMENTED YET.Import a JDK 1.1 style Identity Database.
72 - Export commands
74 -certreq [OPTION]...
75 Issue a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) which can be then
76 sent to a Certification Authority (CA) to issue a certificate
77 signed (by the CA) and authenticating the Subject of the
78 request.
79 -export [OPTION]...
81 Export a certificate from a key store.
82 - Display commands
84 -list [OPTION]...
85 Print one or all certificates in a key store to "STDOUT".
86 -printcert [OPTION]...
88 Print a human-readable form of a certificate, in a designated
89 file, to "STDOUT".
90 - Management commands
92 -keyclone [OPTION]...
93 Clone a Key Entry in a key store.
94 -storepasswd [OPTION]...
96 Change the password protecting a key store.
97 -keypasswd [OPTION]...
99 Change the password protecting a Key Entry in a key store.
100 -delete [OPTION]...
102 Delete a Key Entry or a Trusted Certificate from a key store.
103 Common options
105 The following OPTIONs are used in more than one COMMAND. They are
107 described here to reduce redundancy.
108 -alias Alias
110 Every entry, be it a Key Entry or a Trusted Certificate, in a key
111 store is uniquely identified by a user-defined Alias string. Use
112 this option to specify the Alias to use when referring to an entry
113 in the key store. Unless specified otherwise, a default value of
114 "mykey" shall be used when this option is omitted from the command
115 line.
116 -keyalg ALGORITHM
118 Use this option to specify the canonical name of the key-pair
119 generation algorithm. The default value for this option is "DSS" (a
120 synonym for the Digital Signature Algorithm also known as DSA).
121 -keysize SIZE
123 Use this option to specify the number of bits of the shared modulus
124 (for both the public and private keys) to use when generating new
125 keys. A default value of 1024 will be used if this option is
126 omitted from the command line.
127 -validity DAY_COUNT
129 Use this option to specify the number of days a newly generated
130 certificate will be valid for. The default value is 90 (days) if
131 this option is omitted from the command line.
132 -storetype STORE_TYPE
134 Use this option to specify the type of the key store to use. The
135 default value, if this option is omitted, is that of the property
136 "keystore.type" in the security properties file, which is obtained
137 by invoking the static method call "getDefaultType()" in
138 "java.security.KeyStore".
139 -storepass PASSWORD
141 Use this option to specify the password protecting the key store.
142 If this option is omitted from the command line, you will be
143 prompted to provide a password.
144 -keystore URL
146 Use this option to specify the location of the key store to use.
147 The default value is a file URL referencing the file named
148 .keystore located in the path returned by the call to
149 "java.lang.System#getProperty(String)" using "user.home" as
150 argument.
151 If a URL was specified, but was found to be malformed --e.g.
153 missing protocol element-- the tool will attempt to use the URL
154 value as a file-name (with absolute or relative path-name) of a key
155 store --as if the protocol was "file:".
156 -provider PROVIDER_CLASS_NAME
158 A fully qualified class name of a Security Provider to add to the
159 current list of Security Providers already installed in the JVM in-
160 use. If a provider class is specified with this option, and was
161 successfully added to the runtime --i.e. it was not already
162 installed-- then the tool will attempt to removed this Security
163 Provider before exiting.
164 -file FILE
166 Use this option to designate a file to use with a command. When
167 specified with this option, the value is expected to be the fully
168 qualified path of a file accessible by the File System. Depending
169 on the command, the file may be used as input or as output. When
170 this option is omitted from the command line, "STDIN" will be used
171 instead, as the source of input, and "STDOUT" will be used instead
172 as the output destination.
173 -v Unless specified otherwise, use this option to enable more verbose
175 output.
176 Add/Update commands
178 The -genkey command
180 Use this command to generate a new key-pair (both private and public
182 keys), and save these credentials in the key store as a Key Entry,
183 associated with the designated (if was specified with the -alias
184 option) or default (if the -alias option is omitted) Alias.
185 The private key material will be protected with a user-defined password
187 (see -keypass option). The public key on the other hand will be part of
188 a self-signed X.509 certificate, which will form a 1-element chain and
189 will be saved in the key store.
190 -alias ALIAS
192 See Common Options for more details.
193 -keyalg ALGORITHM
195 See Common Options for more details.
196 -keysize KEY_SIZE
198 See Common Options for more details.
199 -sigalg ALGORITHM
201 The canonical name of the digital signature algorithm to use for
202 signing certificates. If this option is omitted, a default value
203 will be chosen based on the type of the key-pair; i.e., the
204 algorithm that ends up being used by the -keyalg option. If the
205 key-pair generation algorithm is "DSA", the value for the signature
206 algorithm will be "SHA1withDSA". If on the other hand the key-pair
207 generation algorithm is "RSA", then the tool will use "MD5withRSA"
208 as the signature algorithm.
209 -dname NAME
211 This a mandatory value for the command. If no value is specified
212 --i.e. the -dname option is omitted-- the tool will prompt you to
213 enter a Distinguished Name to use as both the Owner and Issuer of
214 the generated self-signed certificate.
215 See Common Options for more details.
217 -keypass PASSWORD
219 Use this option to specify the password which the tool will use to
220 protect the newly created Key Entry.
221 If this option is omitted, you will be prompted to provide a
223 password.
224 -validity DAY_COUNT
226 See Common Options for more details.
227 -storetype STORE_TYPE
229 See Common Options for more details.
230 -keystore URL
232 See Common Options for more details.
233 -storepass PASSWORD
235 See Common Options for more details.
236 -provider PROVIDER_CLASS_NAME
238 See Common Options for more details.
239 -v See Common Options for more details.
241 The -import command
243 Use this command to read an X.509 certificate, or a PKCS#7 Certificate
245 Reply from a designated input source and incorporate the certificates
246 into the key store.
247 If the Alias does not already exist in the key store, the tool treats
249 the certificate read from the input source as a new Trusted
250 Certificate. It then attempts to discover a chain-of-trust, starting
251 from that certificate and ending at another Trusted Certificate,
252 already stored in the key store. If the -trustcacerts option is
253 present, an additional key store, of type "JKS" named cacerts, and
254 assumed to be present in ${JAVA_HOME}/lib/security will also be
255 consulted if found --"${JAVA_HOME}" refers to the location of an
256 installed Java Runtime Environment (JRE). If no chain-of-trust can be
257 established, and unless the "-noprompt" option has been specified, the
258 certificate is printed to "STDOUT" and the user is prompted for a
259 confirmation.
260 If Alias exists in the key store, the tool will treat the
262 certificate(s) read from the input source as a Certificate Reply, which
263 can be a chain of certificates, that eventually would replace the chain
264 of certificates associated with the Key Entry of that Alias. The
265 substitution of the certificates only occurs if a chain-of-trust can be
266 established between the bottom certificate of the chain read from the
267 input file and the Trusted Certificates already present in the key
268 store. Again, if the -trustcacerts option is specified, additional
269 Trusted Certificates in the same cacerts key store will be considered.
270 If no chain-of-trust can be established, the operation will abort.
271 -alias ALIAS
273 See Common Options for more details.
274 -file FILE
276 See Common Options for more details.
277 -keypass PASSWORD
279 Use this option to specify the password which the tool will use to
280 protect the Key Entry associated with the designated Alias, when
281 replacing this Alias' chain of certificates with that found in the
282 certificate reply.
283 If this option is omitted, and the chain-of-trust for the
285 certificate reply has been established, the tool will first attempt
286 to unlock the Key Entry using the same password protecting the key
287 store. If this fails, you will then be prompted to provide a
288 password.
289 -noprompt
291 Use this option to prevent the tool from prompting the user.
292 -trustcacerts
294 Use this option to indicate to the tool that a key store, of type
295 "JKS", named cacerts, and usually located in lib/security in an
296 installed Java Runtime Environment should be considered when trying
297 to establish chain-of-trusts.
298 -storetype STORE_TYPE
300 See Common Options for more details.
301 -keystore URL
303 See Common Options for more details.
304 -storepass PASSWORD
306 See Common Options for more details.
307 -provider PROVIDER_CLASS_NAME
309 See Common Options for more details.
310 -v See Common Options for more details.
312 The -selfcert command
314 Use this command to generate a self-signed X.509 version 1 certificate.
316 The newly generated certificate will form a chain of one element which
317 will replace the previous chain associated with the designated Alias
318 (if -alias option was specified), or the default Alias (if -alias
319 option was omitted).
320 -alias ALIAS
322 See Common Options for more details.
323 -sigalg ALGORITHM
325 The canonical name of the digital signature algorithm to use for
326 signing the certificate. If this option is omitted, a default value
327 will be chosen based on the type of the private key associated with
328 the designated Alias. If the private key is a "DSA" one, the value
329 for the signature algorithm will be "SHA1withDSA". If on the other
330 hand the private key is an "RSA" one, then the tool will use
331 "MD5withRSA" as the signature algorithm.
332 -dname NAME
334 Use this option to specify the Distinguished Name of the newly
335 generated self-signed certificate. If this option is omitted, the
336 existing Distinguished Name of the base certificate in the chain
337 associated with the designated Alias will be used instead.
338 See Common Options for more details.
340 -validity DAY_COUNT
342 See Common Options for more details.
343 -keypass PASSWORD
345 Use this option to specify the password which the tool will use to
346 unlock the Key Entry associated with the designated Alias.
347 If this option is omitted, the tool will first attempt to unlock
349 the Key Entry using the same password protecting the key store. If
350 this fails, you will then be prompted to provide a password.
351 -storetype STORE_TYPE
353 See Common Options for more details.
354 -keystore URL
356 See Common Options for more details.
357 -storepass PASSWORD
359 See Common Options for more details.
360 -provider PROVIDER_CLASS_NAME
362 See Common Options for more details.
363 -v See Common Options for more details.
365 The -cacert command
367 Use this command to import, a CA certificate and add it to the key
369 store as a Trusted Certificate. The Alias for this new entry will be
370 constructed from the FILE's base-name after replacing hyphens and dots
371 with underscores.
372 This command is useful when used in a script that recursively visits a
374 directory of CA certificates to populate a "cacerts.gkr" Key Store of
375 trusted certificates which can then be used commands that specify the
376 -trustcacerts option.
377 -file FILE
379 See Common Options for more details.
380 -storetype STORE_TYPE
382 See Common Options for more details.
383 -keystore URL
385 See Common Options for more details.
386 -storepass PASSWORD
388 See Common Options for more details.
389 -provider PROVIDER_CLASS_NAME
391 See Common Options for more details.
392 -v See Common Options for more details.
394 The -identitydb command
396 NOT IMPLEMENTED YET.
398 Use this command to import a JDK 1.1 style Identity Database.
400 -file FILE
402 See Common Options for more details.
403 -storetype STORE_TYPE
405 See Common Options for more details.
406 -keystore URL
408 See Common Options for more details.
409 -storepass PASSWORD
411 See Common Options for more details.
412 -provider PROVIDER_CLASS_NAME
414 See Common Options for more details.
415 -v See Common Options for more details.
417 Export commands
419 The -certreq command
421 Use this command to generate a PKCS#10 Certificate Signing Request
423 (CSR) and write it to a designated output destination. The contents of
424 the destination should look something like the following:
425 -----BEGIN NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----
427 MI...QAwXzEUMBIGA1UEAwwLcnNuQGdudS5vcmcxGzAZBgNVBAoMElUg
428 Q2...A0GA1UEBwwGU3lkbmV5MQwwCgYDVQQIDANOU1cxCzAJBgNVBACC
429 ...
430 FC...IVwNVOfQLRX+O5kAhQ/a4RTZme2L8PnpvgRwrf7Eg8D6w==
431 -----END NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----
432 IMPORTANT: Some documentation (e.g. RSA examples) claims that the
434 "Attributes" field, in the CSR is "OPTIONAL" while RFC-2986 implies the
435 opposite. This implementation considers this field, by default, as
436 "OPTIONAL", unless the option -attributes is specified on the command
437 line.
438 -alias ALIAS
440 See Common Options for more details.
441 -sigalg ALGORITHM
443 The canonical name of the digital signature algorithm to use for
444 signing the certificate. If this option is omitted, a default value
445 will be chosen based on the type of the private key associated with
446 the designated Alias. If the private key is a "DSA" one, the value
447 for the signature algorithm will be "SHA1withDSA". If on the other
448 hand the private key is an "RSA" one, then the tool will use
449 "MD5withRSA" as the signature algorithm.
450 -file FILE
452 See Common Options for more details.
453 -keypass PASSWORD
455 Use this option to specify the password which the tool will use to
456 unlock the Key Entry associated with the designated Alias.
457 If this option is omitted, the tool will first attempt to unlock
459 the Key Entry using the same password protecting the key store. If
460 this fails, you will then be prompted to provide a password.
461 -storetype STORE_TYPE
463 See Common Options for more details.
464 -keystore URL
466 See Common Options for more details.
467 -storepass PASSWORD
469 See Common Options for more details.
470 -provider PROVIDER_CLASS_NAME
472 See Common Options for more details.
473 -v See Common Options for more details.
475 -attributes
477 Use this option to force the tool to encode a "NULL" DER value in
478 the CSR as the value of the "Attributes" field.
479 The -export command
481 Use this command to export a certificate stored in a key store to a
483 designated output destination, either in binary format (if the -v
484 option is specified), or in RFC-1421 compliant encoding (if the -rfc
485 option is specified instead).
486 -alias ALIAS
488 See Common Options for more details.
489 -file FILE
491 See Common Options for more details.
492 -storetype STORE_TYPE
494 See Common Options for more details.
495 -keystore URL
497 See Common Options for more details.
498 -storepass PASSWORD
500 See Common Options for more details.
501 -provider PROVIDER_CLASS_NAME
503 See Common Options for more details.
504 -rfc
506 Use RFC-1421 specifications when encoding the output.
507 -v Output the certificate in binary DER encoding. This is the default
509 output format of the command if neither -rfc nor "-v" options were
510 detected on the command line. If both this option and the -rfc
511 option are detected on the command line, the tool will opt for the
512 RFC-1421 style encoding.
513 Display commands
515 The -list command
517 Use this command to print one or all of a key store entries to
519 "STDOUT". Usually this command will only print a fingerprint of the
520 certificate, unless either the -rfc or the -v option is specified.
521 -alias ALIAS
523 If this option is omitted, the tool will print ALL the entries
524 found in the key store.
525 See Common Options for more details.
527 -storetype STORE_TYPE
529 See Common Options for more details.
530 -keystore URL
532 See Common Options for more details.
533 -storepass PASSWORD
535 See Common Options for more details.
536 -provider PROVIDER_CLASS_NAME
538 See Common Options for more details.
539 -rfc
541 Use RFC-1421 specifications when encoding the output.
542 -v Output the certificate in human-readable format. If both this
544 option and the -rfc option are detected on the command line, the
545 tool will opt for the human-readable form and will not abort the
546 command.
547 The -printcert command
549 Use this command to read a certificate from a designated input source
551 and print it to "STDOUT" in a human-readable form.
552 -file FILE
554 See Common Options for more details.
555 -v See Common Options for more details.
557 Management commands
559 The -keyclone command
561 Use this command to clone an existing Key Entry and store it under a
563 new (different) Alias protecting, its private key material with
564 possibly a new password.
565 -alias ALIAS
567 See Common Options for more details.
568 -dest ALIAS
570 Use this option to specify the new Alias which will be used to
571 identify the cloned copy of the Key Entry.
572 -keypass PASSWORD
574 Use this option to specify the password which the tool will use to
575 unlock the Key Entry associated with the designated Alias.
576 If this option is omitted, the tool will first attempt to unlock
578 the Key Entry using the same password protecting the key store. If
579 this fails, you will then be prompted to provide a password.
580 -new PASSWORD
582 Use this option to specify the password protecting the private key
583 material of the newly cloned copy of the Key Entry.
584 -storetype STORE_TYPE
586 See Common Options for more details.
587 -keystore URL
589 See Common Options for more details.
590 -storepass PASSWORD
592 See Common Options for more details.
593 -provider PROVIDER_CLASS_NAME
595 See Common Options for more details.
596 -v See Common Options for more details.
598 The -storepasswd command
600 Use this command to change the password protecting a key store.
602 -new PASSWORD
604 The new, and different, password which will be used to protect the
605 designated key store.
606 -storetype STORE_TYPE
608 See Common Options for more details.
609 -keystore URL
611 See Common Options for more details.
612 -storepass PASSWORD
614 See Common Options for more details.
615 -provider PROVIDER_CLASS_NAME
617 See Common Options for more details.
618 -v See Common Options for more details.
620 The -keypasswd command
622 Use this command to change the password protecting the private key
624 material of a designated Key Entry.
625 -alias ALIAS
627 See Common Options for more details.
628 Use this option to specify the password which the tool will use to
630 unlock the Key Entry associated with the designated Alias.
631 If this option is omitted, the tool will first attempt to unlock
633 the Key Entry using the same password protecting the key store. If
634 this fails, you will then be prompted to provide a password.
635 -new PASSWORD
637 The new, and different, password which will be used to protect the
638 private key material of the designated Key Entry.
639 -storetype STORE_TYPE
641 See Common Options for more details.
642 -keystore URL
644 See Common Options for more details.
645 -storepass PASSWORD
647 See Common Options for more details.
648 -provider PROVIDER_CLASS_NAME
650 See Common Options for more details.
651 -v See Common Options for more details.
653 The -delete command
655 Use this command to delete a designated key store entry.
657 -alias ALIAS
659 See Common Options for more details.
660 -storetype STORE_TYPE
662 See Common Options for more details.
663 -keystore URL
665 See Common Options for more details.
666 -storepass PASSWORD
668 See Common Options for more details.
669 -provider PROVIDER_CLASS_NAME
671 See Common Options for more details.
672 -v See Common Options for more details.
674
6780.98 2010-04-27 GKEYTOOL(1)