1SIGNIFY(1) BSD General Commands Manual SIGNIFY(1)
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4 signify — cryptographically sign and verify files
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7 signify -C [-q] [-p pubkey] [-t keytype] -x sigfile [file ...]
8 signify -G [-n] [-c comment] -p pubkey -s seckey
9 signify -S [-enz] [-x sigfile] -s seckey -m message
10 signify -V [-eqz] [-p pubkey] [-t keytype] [-x sigfile] -m message
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13 The signify utility creates and verifies cryptographic signatures. A
14 signature verifies the integrity of a message. The mode of operation is
15 selected with the following options:
16 -C Verify a signed checksum list, and then verify the checksum
18 for each file. If no files are specified, all of them are
19 checked. sigfile should be the signed output of sha256(1).
20 -G Generate a new key pair. Keynames should follow the conven‐
22 tion of keyname.pub and keyname.sec for the public and secret
23 keys, respectively.
24 -S Sign the specified message file and create a signature.
26 -V Verify the message and signature match.
28 The other options are as follows:
30 -c comment Specify the comment to be added during key generation.
32 -e When signing, embed the message after the signature. When
34 verifying, extract the message from the signature. (This
35 requires that the signature was created using -e and cre‐
36 ates a new message file as output.)
37 -m message When signing, the file containing the message to sign.
39 When verifying, the file containing the message to verify.
40 When verifying with -e, the file to create.
41 -n When generating a key pair, do not ask for a passphrase.
43 Otherwise, signify will prompt the user for a passphrase to
44 protect the secret key. When signing with -z, store a zero
45 time stamp in the gzip(1) header.
46 -p pubkey Public key produced by -G, and used by -V to check a signa‐
48 ture.
49 -q Quiet mode. Suppress informational output.
51 -s seckey Secret (private) key produced by -G, and used by -S to sign
53 a message.
54 -t keytype When deducing the correct key to check a signature, make
56 sure the actual key matches /etc/signify/*-keytype.pub.
57 -x sigfile The signature file to create or verify. The default is
59 message.sig.
60 -z Sign and verify gzip(1) archives, where the signing data is
62 embedded in the gzip(1) header.
63 The key and signature files created by signify have the same format. The
65 first line of the file is a free form text comment that may be edited, so
66 long as it does not exceed a single line. Signature comments will be
67 generated based on the name of the secret key used for signing. This
68 comment can then be used as a hint for the name of the public key when
69 verifying. The second line of the file is the actual key or signature
70 base64 encoded.
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73 The signify utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs. It
74 may fail because of one of the following reasons:
75 • Some necessary files do not exist.
77 • Entered passphrase is incorrect.
78 • The message file was corrupted and its signature does not match.
79 • The message file is too large.
80
82 Create a new key pair:
83 $ signify -G -p newkey.pub -s newkey.sec
84 Sign a file, specifying a signature name:
86 $ signify -S -s key.sec -m message.txt -x msg.sig
87 Verify a signature, using the default signature name:
89 $ signify -V -p key.pub -m generalsorders.txt
90 Verify a release directory containing SHA256.sig and a full set of re‐
92 lease files:
93 $ signify -C -p /etc/signify/openbsd-72-base.pub -x SHA256.sig
94 Verify a bsd.rd before an upgrade:
96 $ signify -C -p /etc/signify/openbsd-72-base.pub -x SHA256.sig bsd.rd
97 Sign a gzip archive:
99 $ signify -Sz -s key-arc.sec -m in.tgz -x out.tgz
100 Verify a gzip pipeline:
102 $ ftp url | signify -Vz -t arc | tar ztf -
103
105 gzip(1), pkg_add(1), sha256(1), fw_update(8), sysupgrade(8)
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108 The signify command first appeared in OpenBSD 5.5.
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111 Ted Unangst <tedu@openbsd.org> and Marc Espie <espie@openbsd.org>.
112BSD February 20, 2022 BSD