CA.PL 1 2005-11-25 0.9.9-dev OpenSSL
NAME
CA.pl - friendlier interface for OpenSSL certificate programs
LIBRARY
libcrypto, -lcrypto
SYNOPSIS
CCAA..ppll
[--??]
[--hh]
[--hheellpp]
[--nneewwcceerrtt]
[--nneewwrreeqq]
[--nneewwrreeqq--nnooddeess]
[--nneewwccaa]
[--xxssiiggnn]
[--ssiiggnn]
[--ssiiggnnrreeqq]
[--ssiiggnncceerrtt]
[--vveerriiffyy]
[ffiilleess]
DESCRIPTION
The CCAA..ppll script is a perl script that supplies the relevant command line
arguments to the ooppeennssssll 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
-
??, --hh, --hheellpp
prints a usage message.
-
-
--nneewwcceerrtt
creates a new self signed certificate. The private key and certificate are
-
written to the file "newreq.pem".
-
--nneewwrreeqq
creates a new certificate request. The private key and request are
-
written to the file "newreq.pem".
-
--nneewwrreeqq--nnooddeess
is like --nneewwrreeqq except that the private key will not be encrypted.
-
-
--nneewwccaa
creates a new CA hierarchy for use with the ccaa program (or the --ssiiggnncceerrtt
-
and --xxssiiggnn 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.
-
--ppkkccss1122
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
--ssiiggnn 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.
-
--ssiiggnn, --ssiiggnnrreeqq, --xxssiiggnn
calls the ccaa 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 --xxssiiggnn option when it is written
to standard output.
-
--ssiiggnnCCAA
this option is the same as the --ssiiggnnrreeqq option except it uses the configuration
-
file section vv33__ccaa and so makes the signed request a valid CA certificate. This
is useful when creating intermediate CA from a root CA.
-
--ssiiggnncceerrtt
this option is the same as --ssiiggnn except it expects a self signed certificate
-
to be present in the file "newreq.pem".
-
--vveerriiffyy
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".
-
ffiilleess
one or more optional certificate file names for use with the --vveerriiffyy 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 CCAA..ppll creates RSA CAs and requests it is still possible to
use it with DSA certificates and requests using the _o_p_e_n_s_s_l___r_e_q(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 CCAA..ppll script.
If the demoCA directory already exists then the --nneewwccaa command will not
overwrite it and will do nothing. This can happen if a previous call using
the --nneewwccaa 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 CCAA..ppll 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 OOPPEENNSSSSLL__CCOONNFF 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 ooppeennssssll 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 ooppeennssssll command directly.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The variable OOPPEENNSSSSLL__CCOONNFF 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
_o_p_e_n_s_s_l___x_5_0_9(1), _o_p_e_n_s_s_l___c_a(1), _o_p_e_n_s_s_l___r_e_q(1), _o_p_e_n_s_s_l___p_k_c_s_1_2(1),
_o_p_e_n_s_s_l_._c_n_f(5)