Sun Jan 12 18:05:22 2003
Standard preamble:
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\\$1
.. ..
.... Set up some character translations and predefined strings. \*(-- will
give an unbreakable dash, \*(PI will give pi, \*(L" will give a left
double quote, and \*(R" will give a right double quote. | will give a
real vertical bar. \*(C+ will give a nicer C++. Capital omega is used
to do unbreakable dashes and therefore won't be available. \*(C` and
\*(C' expand to `' in nroff, nothing in troff, for use with C<>
.tr \(*W-|\(bv\*(Tr . ds -- \(*W- . ds PI pi . if (\n(.H=4u)&(1m=24u) .ds -- \(*W\h'-12u'\(*W\h'-12u'-\" diablo 10 pitch . if (\n(.H=4u)&(1m=20u) .ds -- \(*W\h'-12u'\(*W\h'-8u'-\" diablo 12 pitch . ds L" "" . ds R" "" . ds C` "" . ds C' "" 'br\} . ds -- \|\(em\| . ds PI \(*p . ds L" `` . ds R" '' 'br\}
If the F register is turned on, we'll generate index entries on stderr
for titles (.TH), headers (.SH), subsections (.Sh), items (.Ip), and
index entries marked with X<> in POD. Of course, you'll have to process
the output yourself in some meaningful fashion.
. de IX . tm Index:\\$1\t\\n%\t"\\$2" .. . nr % 0 . rr F .\}
For nroff, turn off justification. Always turn off hyphenation; it
makes way too many mistakes in technical documents.
Accent mark definitions (@(#)ms.acc 1.5 88/02/08 SMI; from UCB 4.2).
Fear. Run. Save yourself. No user-serviceable parts.
.bd B 3 . \" fudge factors for nroff and troff . ds #H 0 . ds #V .8m . ds #F .3m . ds #[ \f1 . ds #] .\} . ds #H ((1u-(\\\\n(.fu%2u))*.13m) . ds #V .6m . ds #F 0 . ds #[ \& . ds #] \& .\} . \" simple accents for nroff and troff . ds ' \& . ds ` \& . ds ^ \& . ds , \& . ds ~ ~ . ds / .\} . ds ' \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*8/10-\*(#H)'\'\h"|\\n:u" . ds ` \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*8/10-\*(#H)'\`\h'|\\n:u' . ds ^ \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*10/11-\*(#H)'^\h'|\\n:u' . ds , \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*8/10)',\h'|\\n:u' . ds ~ \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu-\*(#H-.1m)'~\h'|\\n:u' . ds / \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*8/10-\*(#H)'\z\(sl\h'|\\n:u' .\} . \" troff and (daisy-wheel) nroff accents . \" corrections for vroff . \" for low resolution devices (crt and lpr) \{\ . ds : e . ds 8 ss . ds o a . ds d- d\h'-1'\(ga . ds D- D\h'-1'\(hy . ds th \o'bp' . ds Th \o'LP' . ds ae ae . ds Ae AE .\} ======================================================================
Title "req 3"
0 p "-reqexts section" 4 Item "-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. p "-utf8" 4 Item "-utf8" this option causes field values to be interpreted as \s-1UTF8\s0 strings, by default they are interpreted as \s-1ASCII\s0. This means that the field values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a configuration file, must be valid \s-1UTF8\s0 strings. p "-nameopt option" 4 Item "-nameopt option" option which determines how the subject or issuer names are displayed. The \fBoption 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. p "-asn1-kludge" 4 Item "-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. .Sp More precisely the Attributes in a PKCS#10 certificate request are defined as a \s-1SET\s0 \s-1OF\s0 Attribute. They are not \s-1OPTIONAL\s0 so if no attributes are present then they should be encoded as an empty \s-1SET\s0 \s-1OF\s0. The invalid form does not include the empty \fB\s-1SET\s0 \s-1OF\s0 whereas the correct form does. .Sp It should be noted that very few CAs still require the use of this option. p "-newhdr" 4 Item "-newhdr" Adds the word \s-1NEW\s0 to the \s-1PEM\s0 file header and footer lines on the outputed request. Some software (Netscape certificate server) and some CAs need this. p "-batch" 4 Item "-batch" non-interactive mode. p "-verbose" 4 Item "-verbose" print extra details about the operations being performed.
The options available are described in detail below. p "input_password output_password" 4 Item "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. p "default_bits" 4 Item "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 overridden by using the -newkey option. p "default_keyfile" 4 Item "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 overridden by the -keyout option. p "oid_file" 4 Item "oid_file" This specifies a file containing additional \s-1OBJECT\s0 \s-1IDENTIFIERS\s0. Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the object identifier followed by white space then the short name followed by white space and finally the long name. p "oid_section" 4 Item "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. p "\s-1RANDFILE\s0" 4 Item "RANDFILE" This specifies a filename in which random number seed information is placed and read from, or an \s-1EGD\s0 socket (see RAND_egd(3)). It is used for private key generation. p "encrypt_key" 4 Item "encrypt_key" If this is set to no then if a private key is generated it is \fBnot encrypted. This is equivalent to the -nodes command line option. For compatibility encrypt_rsa_key is an equivalent option. p "default_md" 4 Item "default_md" This option specifies the digest algorithm to use. Possible values include md5 sha1 mdc2. If not present then \s-1MD5\s0 is used. This option can be overridden on the command line. p "string_mask" 4 Item "string_mask" This option masks out the use of certain string types in certain fields. Most users will not need to change this option. .Sp It can be set to several values default which is also the default option uses PrintableStrings, T61Strings and BMPStrings if the \fBpkix value is used then only PrintableStrings and BMPStrings will be used. This follows the \s-1PKIX\s0 recommendation in \s-1RFC2459\s0. If the \fButf8only option is used then only UTF8Strings will be used: this is the \s-1PKIX\s0 recommendation in \s-1RFC2459\s0 after 2003. Finally the nombstr option just uses PrintableStrings and T61Strings: certain software has problems with BMPStrings and UTF8Strings: in particular Netscape. p "req_extensions" 4 Item "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. p "x509_extensions" 4 Item "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. p "prompt" 4 Item "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. p "utf8" 4 Item "utf8" if set to the value yes then field values to be interpreted as \s-1UTF8\s0 strings, by default they are interpreted as \s-1ASCII\s0. This means that the field values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a configuration file, must be valid \s-1UTF8\s0 strings. p "attributes" 4 Item "attributes" this specifies the section containing any request attributes: its format is the same as distinguished_name. Typically these may contain the challengePassword or unstructuredName types. They are currently ignored by OpenSSL's request signing utilities but some CAs might want them. p "distinguished_name" 4 Item "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.
.Vb 3 CN=My Name OU=My Organization emailAddress=someone@somewhere.org .Ve This allows external programs (e.g. \s-1GUI\s0 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 \s-1EXAMPLES\s0 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:
.Vb 4 fieldName="prompt" fieldName_default="default field value" fieldName_min= 2 fieldName_max= 4 .Ve \*(L"fieldName\*(R" is the field name being used, for example commonName (or \s-1CN\s0). The \*(L"prompt\*(R" 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 characters long and must fit in a PrintableString).
Some fields (such as organizationName) can be used more than once in a \s-1DN\s0. This presents a problem because configuration files will not recognize the same name occurring twice. To avoid this problem if the fieldName contains some characters followed by a full stop they will be ignored. So for example a second organizationName can be input by calling it \*(L"1.organizationName\*(R".
The actual permitted field names are any object identifier short or long names. These are compiled into OpenSSL and include the usual values such as commonName, countryName, localityName, organizationName, organizationUnitName, stateOrPrivinceName. Additionally emailAddress is include as well as name, surname, givenName initials and dnQualifier.
Additional object identifiers can be defined with the oid_file or \fBoid_section options in the configuration file. Any additional fields will be treated as though they were a DirectoryString.
.Vb 1 openssl req -in req.pem -text -verify -noout .Ve Create a private key and then generate a certificate request from it:
.Vb 2 openssl genrsa -out key.pem 1024 openssl req -new -key key.pem -out req.pem .Ve The same but just using req:
.Vb 1 openssl req -newkey rsa:1024 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem .Ve Generate a self signed root certificate:
.Vb 1 openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:1024 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem .Ve Example of a file pointed to by the oid_file option:
.Vb 2 1.2.3.4 shortName A longer Name 1.2.3.6 otherName Other longer Name .Ve Example of a section pointed to by oid_section making use of variable expansion:
.Vb 2 testoid1=1.2.3.5 testoid2=${testoid1}.6 .Ve Sample configuration file prompting for field values:
.Vb 6 [ req ] default_bits = 1024 default_keyfile = privkey.pem distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name attributes = req_attributes x509_extensions = v3_ca .Ve .Vb 1 dirstring_type = nobmp .Ve .Vb 5 [ req_distinguished_name ] countryName = Country Name (2 letter code) countryName_default = AU countryName_min = 2 countryName_max = 2 .Ve .Vb 1 localityName = Locality Name (eg, city) .Ve .Vb 1 organizationalUnitName = Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) .Ve .Vb 2 commonName = Common Name (eg, YOUR name) commonName_max = 64 .Ve .Vb 2 emailAddress = Email Address emailAddress_max = 40 .Ve .Vb 4 [ req_attributes ] challengePassword = A challenge password challengePassword_min = 4 challengePassword_max = 20 .Ve .Vb 1 [ v3_ca ] .Ve .Vb 3 subjectKeyIdentifier=hash authorityKeyIdentifier=keyid:always,issuer:always basicConstraints = CA:true .Ve Sample configuration containing all field values:
.Vb 1 RANDFILE = $ENV::HOME/.rnd .Ve .Vb 7 [ req ] default_bits = 1024 default_keyfile = keyfile.pem distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name attributes = req_attributes prompt = no output_password = mypass .Ve .Vb 8 [ 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 .Ve .Vb 2 [ req_attributes ] challengePassword = A challenge password .Ve
.Vb 2 -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST----- -----END CERTIFICATE REQUEST----- .Ve some software (some versions of Netscape certificate server) instead needs:
.Vb 2 -----BEGIN NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST----- -----END NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST----- .Ve 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 \s-1MSIE\s0 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.
.Vb 2 Using configuration from /some/path/openssl.cnf Unable to load config info .Ve This is followed some time later by...
.Vb 2 unable to find 'distinguished_name' in config problems making Certificate Request .Ve 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 certificates or requests however does need a configuration file. This could be regarded as a bug.
Another puzzling message is this:
.Vb 2 Attributes: a0:00 .Ve this is displayed when no attributes are present and the request includes the correct empty \s-1SET\s0 \s-1OF\s0 structure (the \s-1DER\s0 encoding of which is 0xa0 0x00). If you just see:
.Vb 1 Attributes: .Ve then the \s-1SET\s0 \s-1OF\s0 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.
As a consequence of the T61String handling the only correct way to represent accented characters in OpenSSL is to use a BMPString: unfortunately Netscape currently chokes on these. If you have to use accented characters with Netscape and \s-1MSIE\s0 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 certificate requests are statically defined in the configuration file. Some of these: like an email address in subjectAltName should be input by the user.