req man page on OpenDarwin

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REQ(1)				    OpenSSL				REQ(1)

NAME
       req - PKCS#10 certificate request and certificate generating utility.

SYNOPSIS
       openssl req [-inform PEM⎪DER] [-outform PEM⎪DER] [-in filename]
       [-passin arg] [-out filename] [-passout arg] [-text] [-pubkey] [-noout]
       [-verify] [-modulus] [-new] [-rand file(s)] [-newkey rsa:bits] [-newkey
       dsa:file] [-nodes] [-key filename] [-keyform PEM⎪DER] [-keyout file‐
       name] [-[md5⎪sha1⎪md2⎪mdc2]] [-config filename] [-subj arg] [-x509]
       [-days n] [-set_serial n] [-asn1-kludge] [-newhdr] [-extensions sec‐
       tion] [-reqexts section] [-utf8] [-nameopt] [-batch] [-verbose]
       [-engine id]

DESCRIPTION
       The req command primarily creates and processes certificate requests in
       PKCS#10 format. It can additionally create self signed certificates for
       use as root CAs for example.

COMMAND OPTIONS
       -inform DER⎪PEM
	   This specifies the input format. The DER option uses an ASN1 DER
	   encoded form compatible with the PKCS#10. The PEM form is the
	   default format: it consists of the DER format base64 encoded with
	   additional header and footer lines.

       -outform DER⎪PEM
	   This specifies the output format, the options have the same meaning
	   as the -inform option.

       -in filename
	   This specifies the input filename to read a request from or stan‐
	   dard input if this option is not specified. A request is only read
	   if the creation options (-new and -newkey) are not specified.

       -passin arg
	   the input file password source. For more information about the for‐
	   mat of arg see the PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS section in openssl(1).

       -out filename
	   This specifies the output filename to write to or standard output
	   by default.

       -passout arg
	   the output file password source. For more information about the
	   format of arg see the PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS section in openssl(1).

       -text
	   prints out the certificate request in text form.

       -pubkey
	   outputs the public key.

       -noout
	   this option prevents output of the encoded version of the request.

       -modulus
	   this option prints out the value of the modulus of the public key
	   contained in the request.

       -verify
	   verifies the signature on the request.

       -new
	   this option generates a new certificate request. It will prompt the
	   user for the relevant field values. The actual fields prompted for
	   and their maximum and minimum sizes are specified in the configura‐
	   tion file and any requested extensions.

	   If the -key option is not used it will generate a new RSA private
	   key using information specified in the configuration file.

       -rand file(s)
	   a file or files containing random data used to seed the random num‐
	   ber generator, or an EGD socket (see RAND_egd(3)).  Multiple files
	   can be specified separated by a OS-dependent character.  The sepa‐
	   rator is ; for MS-Windows, , for OpenVMS, and : for all others.

       -newkey arg
	   this option creates a new certificate request and a new private
	   key. The argument takes one of two forms. rsa:nbits, where nbits is
	   the number of bits, generates an RSA key nbits in size. dsa:file‐
	   name generates a DSA key using the parameters in the file filename.

       -key filename
	   This specifies the file to read the private key from. It also
	   accepts PKCS#8 format private keys for PEM format files.

       -keyform PEM⎪DER
	   the format of the private key file specified in the -key argument.
	   PEM is the default.

       -keyout filename
	   this gives the filename to write the newly created private key to.
	   If this option is not specified then the filename present in the
	   configuration file is used.

       -nodes
	   if this option is specified then if a private key is created it
	   will not be encrypted.

       -[md5⎪sha1⎪md2⎪mdc2]
	   this specifies the message digest to sign the request with. This
	   overrides the digest algorithm specified in the configuration file.
	   This option is ignored for DSA requests: they always use SHA1.

       -config filename
	   this allows an alternative configuration file to be specified, this
	   overrides the compile time filename or any specified in the
	   OPENSSL_CONF environment variable.

       -subj arg
	   sets subject name for new request or supersedes the subject name
	   when processing a request.  The arg must be formatted as
	   /type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=..., characters may be escaped by
	   \ (backslash), no spaces are skipped.

       -x509
	   this option outputs a self signed certificate instead of a certifi‐
	   cate request. This is typically used to generate a test certificate
	   or a self signed root CA. The extensions added to the certificate
	   (if any) are specified in the configuration file. Unless specified
	   using the set_serial option 0 will be used for the serial number.

       -days n
	   when the -x509 option is being used this specifies the number of
	   days to certify the certificate for. The default is 30 days.

       -set_serial n
	   serial number to use when outputting a self signed certificate.
	   This may be specified as a decimal value or a hex value if preceded
	   by 0x.  It is possible to use negative serial numbers but this is
	   not recommended.

       -extensions section
       -reqexts section
	   these options specify alternative sections to include certificate
	   extensions (if the -x509 option is present) or certificate request
	   extensions. This allows several different sections to be used in
	   the same configuration file to specify requests for a variety of
	   purposes.

       -utf8
	   this option causes field values to be interpreted as UTF8 strings,
	   by default they are interpreted as ASCII. This means that the field
	   values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a config‐
	   uration file, must be valid UTF8 strings.

       -nameopt option
	   option which determines how the subject or issuer names are dis‐
	   played. The option argument can be a single option or multiple
	   options separated by commas.	 Alternatively the -nameopt switch may
	   be used more than once to set multiple options. See the x509(1)
	   manual page for details.

       -asn1-kludge
	   by default the req command outputs certificate requests containing
	   no attributes in the correct PKCS#10 format. However certain CAs
	   will only accept requests containing no attributes in an invalid
	   form: this option produces this invalid format.

	   More precisely the Attributes in a PKCS#10 certificate request are
	   defined as a SET OF Attribute. They are not OPTIONAL so if no
	   attributes are present then they should be encoded as an empty SET
	   OF. The invalid form does not include the empty SET OF whereas the
	   correct form does.

	   It should be noted that very few CAs still require the use of this
	   option.

       -newhdr
	   Adds the word NEW to the PEM file header and footer lines on the
	   outputed request. Some software (Netscape certificate server) and
	   some CAs need this.

       -batch
	   non-interactive mode.

       -verbose
	   print extra details about the operations being performed.

       -engine id
	   specifying an engine (by it's unique id string) will cause req 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.

CONFIGURATION FILE FORMAT
       The configuration options are specified in the req section of the con‐
       figuration file. As with all configuration files if no value is speci‐
       fied in the specific section (i.e. req) then the initial unnamed or
       default section is searched too.

       The options available are described in detail below.

       input_password output_password
	   The passwords for the input private key file (if present) and the
	   output private key file (if one will be created). The command line
	   options passin and passout override the configuration file values.

       default_bits
	   This specifies the default key size in bits. If not specified then
	   512 is used. It is used if the -new option is used. It can be over‐
	   ridden by using the -newkey option.

       default_keyfile
	   This is the default filename to write a private key to. If not
	   specified the key is written to standard output. This can be over‐
	   ridden by the -keyout option.

       oid_file
	   This specifies a file containing additional OBJECT IDENTIFIERS.
	   Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the
	   object identifier followed by white space then the short name fol‐
	   lowed by white space and finally the long name.

       oid_section
	   This specifies a section in the configuration file containing extra
	   object identifiers. Each line should consist of the short name of
	   the object identifier followed by = and the numerical form. The
	   short and long names are the same when this option is used.

       RANDFILE
	   This specifies a filename in which random number seed information
	   is placed and read from, or an EGD socket (see RAND_egd(3)).	 It is
	   used for private key generation.

       encrypt_key
	   If this is set to no then if a private key is generated it is not
	   encrypted. This is equivalent to the -nodes command line option.
	   For compatibility encrypt_rsa_key is an equivalent option.

       default_md
	   This option specifies the digest algorithm to use. Possible values
	   include md5 sha1 mdc2. If not present then MD5 is used. This option
	   can be overridden on the command line.

       string_mask
	   This option masks out the use of certain string types in certain
	   fields. Most users will not need to change this option.

	   It can be set to several values default which is also the default
	   option uses PrintableStrings, T61Strings and BMPStrings if the pkix
	   value is used then only PrintableStrings and BMPStrings will be
	   used. This follows the PKIX recommendation in RFC2459. If the
	   utf8only option is used then only UTF8Strings will be used: this is
	   the PKIX recommendation in RFC2459 after 2003. Finally the nombstr
	   option just uses PrintableStrings and T61Strings: certain software
	   has problems with BMPStrings and UTF8Strings: in particular Net‐
	   scape.

       req_extensions
	   this specifies the configuration file section containing a list of
	   extensions to add to the certificate request. It can be overridden
	   by the -reqexts command line switch.

       x509_extensions
	   this specifies the configuration file section containing a list of
	   extensions to add to certificate generated when the -x509 switch is
	   used. It can be overridden by the -extensions command line switch.

       prompt
	   if set to the value no this disables prompting of certificate
	   fields and just takes values from the config file directly. It also
	   changes the expected format of the distinguished_name and
	   attributes sections.

       utf8
	   if set to the value yes then field values to be interpreted as UTF8
	   strings, by default they are interpreted as ASCII. This means that
	   the field values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from
	   a configuration file, must be valid UTF8 strings.

       attributes
	   this specifies the section containing any request attributes: its
	   format is the same as distinguished_name. Typically these may con‐
	   tain the challengePassword or unstructuredName types. They are cur‐
	   rently ignored by OpenSSL's request signing utilities but some CAs
	   might want them.

       distinguished_name
	   This specifies the section containing the distinguished name fields
	   to prompt for when generating a certificate or certificate request.
	   The format is described in the next section.

DISTINGUISHED NAME AND ATTRIBUTE SECTION FORMAT
       There are two separate formats for the distinguished name and attribute
       sections. If the prompt option is set to no then these sections just
       consist of field names and values: for example,

	CN=My Name
	OU=My Organization
	emailAddress=someone@somewhere.org

       This allows external programs (e.g. GUI based) to generate a template
       file with all the field names and values and just pass it to req. An
       example of this kind of configuration file is contained in the EXAMPLES
       section.

       Alternatively if the prompt option is absent or not set to no then the
       file contains field prompting information. It consists of lines of the
       form:

	fieldName="prompt"
	fieldName_default="default field value"
	fieldName_min= 2
	fieldName_max= 4

       "fieldName" is the field name being used, for example commonName (or
       CN).  The "prompt" string is used to ask the user to enter the relevant
       details. If the user enters nothing then the default value is used if
       no default value is present then the field is omitted. A field can
       still be omitted if a default value is present if the user just enters
       the '.' character.

       The number of characters entered must be between the fieldName_min and
       fieldName_max limits: there may be additional restrictions based on the
       field being used (for example countryName can only ever be two charac‐
       ters long and must fit in a PrintableString).

       Some fields (such as organizationName) can be used more than once in a
       DN. This presents a problem because configuration files will not recog‐
       nize the same name occurring twice. To avoid this problem if the field‐
       Name contains some characters followed by a full stop they will be
       ignored. So for example a second organizationName can be input by call‐
       ing it "1.organizationName".

       The actual permitted field names are any object identifier short or
       long names. These are compiled into OpenSSL and include the usual val‐
       ues such as commonName, countryName, localityName, organizationName,
       organizationUnitName, stateOrProvinceName. Additionally emailAddress is
       include as well as name, surname, givenName initials and dnQualifier.

       Additional object identifiers can be defined with the oid_file or
       oid_section options in the configuration file. Any additional fields
       will be treated as though they were a DirectoryString.

EXAMPLES
       Examine and verify certificate request:

	openssl req -in req.pem -text -verify -noout

       Create a private key and then generate a certificate request from it:

	openssl genrsa -out key.pem 1024
	openssl req -new -key key.pem -out req.pem

       The same but just using req:

	openssl req -newkey rsa:1024 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem

       Generate a self signed root certificate:

	openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:1024 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem

       Example of a file pointed to by the oid_file option:

	1.2.3.4	       shortName       A longer Name
	1.2.3.6	       otherName       Other longer Name

       Example of a section pointed to by oid_section making use of variable
       expansion:

	testoid1=1.2.3.5
	testoid2=${testoid1}.6

       Sample configuration file prompting for field values:

	[ req ]
	default_bits	       = 1024
	default_keyfile	       = privkey.pem
	distinguished_name     = req_distinguished_name
	attributes	       = req_attributes
	x509_extensions	       = v3_ca

	dirstring_type = nobmp

	[ req_distinguished_name ]
	countryName		       = Country Name (2 letter code)
	countryName_default	       = AU
	countryName_min		       = 2
	countryName_max		       = 2

	localityName		       = Locality Name (eg, city)

	organizationalUnitName	       = Organizational Unit Name (eg, section)

	commonName		       = Common Name (eg, YOUR name)
	commonName_max		       = 64

	emailAddress		       = Email Address
	emailAddress_max	       = 40

	[ req_attributes ]
	challengePassword	       = A challenge password
	challengePassword_min	       = 4
	challengePassword_max	       = 20

	[ v3_ca ]

	subjectKeyIdentifier=hash
	authorityKeyIdentifier=keyid:always,issuer:always
	basicConstraints = CA:true

       Sample configuration containing all field values:

	RANDFILE	       = $ENV::HOME/.rnd

	[ req ]
	default_bits	       = 1024
	default_keyfile	       = keyfile.pem
	distinguished_name     = req_distinguished_name
	attributes	       = req_attributes
	prompt		       = no
	output_password	       = mypass

	[ req_distinguished_name ]
	C		       = GB
	ST		       = Test State or Province
	L		       = Test Locality
	O		       = Organization Name
	OU		       = Organizational Unit Name
	CN		       = Common Name
	emailAddress	       = test@email.address

	[ req_attributes ]
	challengePassword	       = A challenge password

NOTES
       The header and footer lines in the PEM format are normally:

	-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----
	-----END CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

       some software (some versions of Netscape certificate server) instead
       needs:

	-----BEGIN NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----
	-----END NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

       which is produced with the -newhdr option but is otherwise compatible.
       Either form is accepted transparently on input.

       The certificate requests generated by Xenroll with MSIE have extensions
       added. It includes the keyUsage extension which determines the type of
       key (signature only or general purpose) and any additional OIDs entered
       by the script in an extendedKeyUsage extension.

DIAGNOSTICS
       The following messages are frequently asked about:

	       Using configuration from /some/path/openssl.cnf
	       Unable to load config info

       This is followed some time later by...

	       unable to find 'distinguished_name' in config
	       problems making Certificate Request

       The first error message is the clue: it can't find the configuration
       file! Certain operations (like examining a certificate request) don't
       need a configuration file so its use isn't enforced. Generation of cer‐
       tificates or requests however does need a configuration file. This
       could be regarded as a bug.

       Another puzzling message is this:

	       Attributes:
		   a0:00

       this is displayed when no attributes are present and the request
       includes the correct empty SET OF structure (the DER encoding of which
       is 0xa0 0x00). If you just see:

	       Attributes:

       then the SET OF is missing and the encoding is technically invalid (but
       it is tolerated). See the description of the command line option
       -asn1-kludge for more information.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The variable OPENSSL_CONF if defined allows an alternative configura‐
       tion file location to be specified, it will be overridden by the -con‐
       fig command line switch if it is present. For compatibility reasons the
       SSLEAY_CONF environment variable serves the same purpose but its use is
       discouraged.

BUGS
       OpenSSL's handling of T61Strings (aka TeletexStrings) is broken: it
       effectively treats them as ISO-8859-1 (Latin 1), Netscape and MSIE have
       similar behaviour.  This can cause problems if you need characters that
       aren't available in PrintableStrings and you don't want to or can't use
       BMPStrings.

       As a consequence of the T61String handling the only correct way to rep‐
       resent accented characters in OpenSSL is to use a BMPString: unfortu‐
       nately Netscape currently chokes on these. If you have to use accented
       characters with Netscape and MSIE then you currently need to use the
       invalid T61String form.

       The current prompting is not very friendly. It doesn't allow you to
       confirm what you've just entered. Other things like extensions in cer‐
       tificate requests are statically defined in the configuration file.
       Some of these: like an email address in subjectAltName should be input
       by the user.

SEE ALSO
       x509(1), ca(1), genrsa(1), gendsa(1), config(5)

0.9.7d				  2003-11-20				REQ(1)
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