CA.pl(1ssl)

1CA.PL(1)                            OpenSSL                           CA.PL(1)
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NAME

6       CA.pl - friendlier interface for OpenSSL certificate programs
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SYNOPSIS

9       CA.pl [-?]  [-h] [-help] [-newcert] [-newreq] [-newreq-nodes] [-newca]
10       [-xsign] [-sign] [-signreq] [-signcert] [-verify] [files]
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DESCRIPTION

13       The CA.pl script is a perl script that supplies the relevant command
14       line arguments to the openssl command for some common certificate
15       operations.  It is intended to simplify the process of certificate
16       creation and management by the use of some simple options.
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COMMAND OPTIONS

19       ?, -h, -help
20           prints a usage message.
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22       -newcert
23           creates a new self signed certificate. The private key and
24           certificate are written to the file "newreq.pem".
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26       -newreq
27           creates a new certificate request. The private key and request are
28           written to the file "newreq.pem".
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30       -newreq-nodes
31           is like -newreq except that the private key will not be encrypted.
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33       -newca
34           creates a new CA hierarchy for use with the ca program (or the
35           -signcert and -xsign options). The user is prompted to enter the
36           filename of the CA certificates (which should also contain the
37           private key) or by hitting ENTER details of the CA will be prompted
38           for. The relevant files and directories are created in a directory
39           called "demoCA" in the current directory.
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41       -pkcs12
42           create a PKCS#12 file containing the user certificate, private key
43           and CA certificate. It expects the user certificate and private key
44           to be in the file "newcert.pem" and the CA certificate to be in the
45           file demoCA/cacert.pem, it creates a file "newcert.p12". This
46           command can thus be called after the -sign option. The PKCS#12 file
47           can be imported directly into a browser.  If there is an additional
48           argument on the command line it will be used as the "friendly name"
49           for the certificate (which is typically displayed in the browser
50           list box), otherwise the name "My Certificate" is used.
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52       -sign, -signreq, -xsign
53           calls the ca program to sign a certificate request. It expects the
54           request to be in the file "newreq.pem". The new certificate is
55           written to the file "newcert.pem" except in the case of the -xsign
56           option when it is written to standard output.
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58       -signCA
59           this option is the same as the -signreq option except it uses the
60           configuration file section v3_ca and so makes the signed request a
61           valid CA certificate. This is useful when creating intermediate CA
62           from a root CA.
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64       -signcert
65           this option is the same as -sign except it expects a self signed
66           certificate to be present in the file "newreq.pem".
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68       -verify
69           verifies certificates against the CA certificate for "demoCA". If
70           no certificates are specified on the command line it tries to
71           verify the file "newcert.pem".
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73       files
74           one or more optional certificate file names for use with the
75           -verify command.
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EXAMPLES

78       Create a CA hierarchy:
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80        CA.pl -newca
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82       Complete certificate creation example: create a CA, create a request,
83       sign the request and finally create a PKCS#12 file containing it.
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85        CA.pl -newca
86        CA.pl -newreq
87        CA.pl -signreq
88        CA.pl -pkcs12 "My Test Certificate"
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DSA CERTIFICATES

91       Although the CA.pl creates RSA CAs and requests it is still possible to
92       use it with DSA certificates and requests using the req(1) command
93       directly. The following example shows the steps that would typically be
94       taken.
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96       Create some DSA parameters:
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98        openssl dsaparam -out dsap.pem 1024
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100       Create a DSA CA certificate and private key:
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102        openssl req -x509 -newkey dsa:dsap.pem -keyout cacert.pem -out cacert.pem
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104       Create the CA directories and files:
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106        CA.pl -newca
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108       enter cacert.pem when prompted for the CA file name.
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110       Create a DSA certificate request and private key (a different set of
111       parameters can optionally be created first):
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113        openssl req -out newreq.pem -newkey dsa:dsap.pem
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115       Sign the request:
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117        CA.pl -signreq
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NOTES

120       Most of the filenames mentioned can be modified by editing the CA.pl
121       script.
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123       If the demoCA directory already exists then the -newca command will not
124       overwrite it and will do nothing. This can happen if a previous call
125       using the -newca option terminated abnormally. To get the correct
126       behaviour delete the demoCA directory if it already exists.
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128       Under some environments it may not be possible to run the CA.pl script
129       directly (for example Win32) and the default configuration file
130       location may be wrong. In this case the command:
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132        perl -S CA.pl
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134       can be used and the OPENSSL_CONF environment variable changed to point
135       to the correct path of the configuration file "openssl.cnf".
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137       The script is intended as a simple front end for the openssl program
138       for use by a beginner. Its behaviour isn't always what is wanted. For
139       more control over the behaviour of the certificate commands call the
140       openssl command directly.
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ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

143       The variable OPENSSL_CONF if defined allows an alternative
144       configuration file location to be specified, it should contain the full
145       path to the configuration file, not just its directory.
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