CA.pl(1ssl)CA.pl(1ssl)NAMECA.pl - Friendlier interface for OpenSSL certificate programs
SYNOPSISCA.pl [-?] [-h] [-help] [-newcert] [-newreq] [-newca] [-xsign] [-sign]
[-signreq] [-signcert] [-verify] [files]
OPTIONS
Prints a usage message. Creates a new self signed certificate. The
private key and certificate are written to the file newreq.pem. Cre‐
ates a new certificate request. The private key and request are written
to the file newreq.pem. 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. Creates 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. 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. 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. The same as -sign option, except it
expects a self signed certificate to be present in the file newreq.pem.
Verifies certificates against the CA certificate for demoCA. If no cer‐
tificates are specified on the command line it tries to verify the file
newcert.pem. One or more optional certificate file names for use with
the -verify option.
DESCRIPTION
The CA.pl script is a perl script that supplies the relevant command
line arguments to the openssl command for some common certificate oper‐
ations. It is intended to simplify the process of certificate creation
and management by the use of some simple options.
NOTES
Most of the filenames mentioned can be modified by editing the CA.pl
script.
If the demoCA directory already exists then the -newca option 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
behavior 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 loca‐
tion may be wrong. In this case the command perl -SCA.pl can be used
and the OPENSSL_CONF environment variable changed to point to the cor‐
rect 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 behavior isn't always what is wanted. For
more control over the behavior of the certificate commands call the
openssl command directly.
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 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 cac‐
ert.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
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The variable OPENSSL_CONF if defined allows an alternative configura‐
tion file location to be specified. It should contain the full path to
the configuration file, not just its directory.
SEE ALSO
Commands: x509(1ssl), ca(1ssl), req(1ssl), pkcs12(1ssl)
Others: config(5)CA.pl(1ssl)