CA.PL(1SSL) OpenSSL CA.PL(1SSL)
NAME
CA.pl - friendlier interface for OpenSSL certificate programs
SYNOPSIS
CA.pl -? | -h | -help
CA.pl -newcert | -newreq | -newreq-nodes | -xsign | -sign | -signCA |
-signcert | -crl | -newca [-extra-cmd parameter]
CA.pl -pkcs12 [certname]
CA.pl -verify certfile ...
CA.pl -revoke certfile [reason]
DESCRIPTION
The CA.pl script is a perl script that supplies the relevant command
line arguments to the openssl(1) 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.
The script is intended as a simple front end for the openssl(1) 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(1) command directly.
Most of the filenames mentioned below can be modified by editing the
CA.pl script.
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 can be set to
point to the correct path of the configuration file.
OPTIONS
-?, -h, -help
Prints a usage message.
-newcert
Creates a new self signed certificate. The private key is written to
the file newkey.pem and the request written to the file newreq.pem.
Invokes openssl-req(1).
-newreq
Creates a new certificate request. The private key is written to the
file newkey.pem and the request written to the file newreq.pem.
Executes openssl-req(1) under the hood.
-newreq-nodes
Is like -newreq except that the private key will not be encrypted.
Uses openssl-req(1).
-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. Uses openssl-req(1) and
openssl-ca(1).
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 directory if it already exists.
-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. Delegates
work to openssl-pkcs12(1).
-sign, -signcert, -xsign
Calls the openssl-ca(1) command 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 -sign 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. Extra params are passed to openssl-ca(1).
-signcert
This option is the same as -sign except it expects a self signed
certificate to be present in the file newreq.pem. Extra params are
passed to openssl-x509(1) and openssl-ca(1).
-crl
Generate a CRL. Executes openssl-ca(1).
-revoke certfile [reason]
Revoke the certificate contained in the specified certfile. An
optional reason may be specified, and must be one of: unspecified,
keyCompromise, CACompromise, affiliationChanged, superseded,
cessationOfOperation, certificateHold, or removeFromCRL. Leverages
openssl-ca(1).
-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. Invokes openssl-verify(1).
-extra-cmd parameter
For each option extra-cmd, pass parameter to the openssl(1) sub-
command with the same name as cmd, if that sub-command is invoked.
For example, if openssl-req(1) is invoked, the parameter given with
-extra-req will be passed to it. For multi-word parameters, either
repeat the option or quote the parameters so it looks like one word
to your shell. See the individual command documentation for more
information.
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 -sign
CA.pl -pkcs12 "My Test Certificate"
ENVIRONMENT
The environment variable OPENSSL may be used to specify the name of the
OpenSSL program. It can be a full pathname, or a relative one.
The environment variable OPENSSL_CONFIG may be used to specify a
configuration option and value to the req and ca commands invoked by
this script. It's value should be the option and pathname, as in
"-config /path/to/conf-file".
SEE ALSO
openssl(1), openssl-x509(1), openssl-ca(1), openssl-req(1),
openssl-pkcs12(1), config(5)
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2000-2025 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.
3.5.4 2025-09-30 CA.PL(1SSL)
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