CA.PL(1) OpenSSL CA.PL(1)
NAME
CA.pl - friendlier interface for OpenSSL certificate programs
SYNOPSIS
CA.pl [-?] [-h] [-help] [-newcert] [-newreq] [-newreq-nodes] [-newca] [-xsign] [-sign] [-signreq]
[-signcert] [-verify] [files]
DESCRIPTION
The CA.pl script is a perl script that supplies the relevant command line arguments to the openssl
command for some common certificate operations. It is intended to simplify the process of
certificate creation and management by the use of some simple options.
COMMAND OPTIONS
?, -h, -help
prints a usage message.
-newcert
creates a new self signed certificate. The private key and certificate are written to the file
"newreq.pem".
-newreq
creates a new certificate request. The private key and request are written to the file
"newreq.pem".
-newreq-nodes
is like -newreq except that the private key will not be encrypted.
-newca
creates a new CA hierarchy for use with the ca program (or the -signcert and -xsign options). The
user is prompted to enter the filename of the CA certificates (which should also contain the
private key) or by hitting ENTER details of the CA will be prompted for. The relevant files and
directories are created in a directory called "demoCA" in the current directory.
-pkcs12
create a PKCS#12 file containing the user certificate, private key and CA certificate. It expects
the user certificate and private key to be in the file "newcert.pem" and the CA certificate to be
in the file demoCA/cacert.pem, it creates a file "newcert.p12". This command can thus be called
after the -sign option. The PKCS#12 file can be imported directly into a browser. If there is an
additional argument on the command line it will be used as the "friendly name" for the
certificate (which is typically displayed in the browser list box), otherwise the name "My
Certificate" is used.
-sign, -signreq, -xsign
calls the ca program to sign a certificate request. It expects the request to be in the file
"newreq.pem". The new certificate is written to the file "newcert.pem" except in the case of the
-xsign option when it is written to standard output.
-signCA
this option is the same as the -signreq option except it uses the configuration file section
v3_ca and so makes the signed request a valid CA certificate. This is useful when creating
intermediate CA from a root CA.
-signcert
this option is the same as -sign except it expects a self signed certificate to be present in the
file "newreq.pem".
-verify
verifies certificates against the CA certificate for "demoCA". If no certificates are specified
on the command line it tries to verify the file "newcert.pem".
files
one or more optional certificate file names for use with the -verify command.
EXAMPLES
Create a CA hierarchy:
CA.pl -newca
Complete certificate creation example: create a CA, create a request, sign the request and finally
create a PKCS#12 file containing it.
CA.pl -newca
CA.pl -newreq
CA.pl -signreq
CA.pl -pkcs12 "My Test Certificate"
DSA CERTIFICATES
Although the CA.pl creates RSA CAs and requests it is still possible to use it with DSA certificates
and requests using the req(1) command directly. The following example shows the steps that would
typically be taken.
Create some DSA parameters:
openssl dsaparam -out dsap.pem 1024
Create a DSA CA certificate and private key:
openssl req -x509 -newkey dsa:dsap.pem -keyout cacert.pem -out cacert.pem
Create the CA directories and files:
CA.pl -newca
enter cacert.pem when prompted for the CA file name.
Create a DSA certificate request and private key (a different set of parameters can optionally be
created first):
openssl req -out newreq.pem -newkey dsa:dsap.pem
Sign the request:
CA.pl -signreq
NOTES
Most of the filenames mentioned can be modified by editing the CA.pl script.
If the demoCA directory already exists then the -newca command will not overwrite it and will do
nothing. This can happen if a previous call using the -newca option terminated abnormally. To get the
correct behaviour delete the demoCA directory if it already exists.
Under some environments it may not be possible to run the CA.pl script directly (for example Win32)
and the default configuration file location may be wrong. In this case the command:
perl -S CA.pl
can be used and the OPENSSL_CONF environment variable changed to point to the correct path of the
configuration file "openssl.cnf".
The script is intended as a simple front end for the openssl program for use by a beginner. Its
behaviour isn't always what is wanted. For more control over the behaviour of the certificate
commands call the openssl command directly.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The variable OPENSSL_CONF if defined allows an alternative configuration file location to be
specified, it should contain the full path to the configuration file, not just its directory.
SEE ALSO
x509(1), ca(1), req(1), pkcs12(1), config(5)
0.9.7l 2005-05-03 CA.PL(1)
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