6
ca - sample minimal CA application
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[B<-crl_reason reason>]
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[B<-crl_hold instruction>]
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[B<-crl_compromise time>]
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[B<-crl_CA_compromise time>]
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[B<-extensions section>]
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The B<ca> command is a minimal CA application. It can be used
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to sign certificate requests in a variety of forms and generate
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CRLs it also maintains a text database of issued certificates
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The options descriptions will be divided into each purpose.
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=item B<-config filename>
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specifies the configuration file to use.
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=item B<-name section>
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specifies the configuration file section to use (overrides
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B<default_ca> in the B<ca> section).
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an input filename containing a single certificate request to be
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=item B<-ss_cert filename>
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a single self signed certificate to be signed by the CA.
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=item B<-spkac filename>
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a file containing a single Netscape signed public key and challenge
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and additional field values to be signed by the CA. See the B<SPKAC FORMAT>
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section for information on the required format.
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if present this should be the last option, all subsequent arguments
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are assumed to the the names of files containing certificate requests.
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=item B<-out filename>
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the output file to output certificates to. The default is standard
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output. The certificate details will also be printed out to this
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=item B<-outdir directory>
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the directory to output certificates to. The certificate will be
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written to a filename consisting of the serial number in hex with
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the CA certificate file.
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=item B<-keyfile filename>
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the private key to sign requests with.
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=item B<-key password>
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the password used to encrypt the private key. Since on some
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systems the command line arguments are visible (e.g. Unix with
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the 'ps' utility) this option should be used with caution.
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indicates the issued certificates are to be signed with the key
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the certificate requests were signed with (given with B<-keyfile>).
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Cerificate requests signed with a different key are ignored. If
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B<-spkac>, B<-ss_cert> or B<-gencrl> are given, B<-selfsign> is
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A consequence of using B<-selfsign> is that the self-signed
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certificate appears among the entries in the certificate database
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(see the configuration option B<database>), and uses the same
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serial number counter as all other certificates sign with the
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self-signed certificate.
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the key password source. For more information about the format of B<arg>
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see the B<PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS> section in L<openssl(1)|openssl(1)>.
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this prints extra details about the operations being performed.
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don't output the text form of a certificate to the output file.
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=item B<-startdate date>
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this allows the start date to be explicitly set. The format of the
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date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure).
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=item B<-enddate date>
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this allows the expiry date to be explicitly set. The format of the
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date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure).
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the number of days to certify the certificate for.
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the message digest to use. Possible values include md5, sha1 and mdc2.
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This option also applies to CRLs.
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this option defines the CA "policy" to use. This is a section in
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the configuration file which decides which fields should be mandatory
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or match the CA certificate. Check out the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
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for more information.
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this is a legacy option to make B<ca> work with very old versions of
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the IE certificate enrollment control "certenr3". It used UniversalStrings
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for almost everything. Since the old control has various security bugs
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its use is strongly discouraged. The newer control "Xenroll" does not
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Normally the DN order of a certificate is the same as the order of the
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fields in the relevant policy section. When this option is set the order
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is the same as the request. This is largely for compatibility with the
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older IE enrollment control which would only accept certificates if their
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DNs match the order of the request. This is not needed for Xenroll.
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The DN of a certificate can contain the EMAIL field if present in the
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request DN, however it is good policy just having the e-mail set into
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the altName extension of the certificate. When this option is set the
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EMAIL field is removed from the certificate' subject and set only in
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the, eventually present, extensions. The B<email_in_dn> keyword can be
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used in the configuration file to enable this behaviour.
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this sets the batch mode. In this mode no questions will be asked
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and all certificates will be certified automatically.
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=item B<-extensions section>
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the section of the configuration file containing certificate extensions
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to be added when a certificate is issued (defaults to B<x509_extensions>
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unless the B<-extfile> option is used). If no extension section is
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present then, a V1 certificate is created. If the extension section
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is present (even if it is empty), then a V3 certificate is created.
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=item B<-extfile file>
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an additional configuration file to read certificate extensions from
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(using the default section unless the B<-extensions> option is also
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specifying an engine (by it's unique B<id> string) will cause B<req>
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to attempt to obtain a functional reference to the specified engine,
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thus initialising it if needed. The engine will then be set as the default
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for all available algorithms.
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supersedes subject name given in the request.
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The arg must be formatted as I</type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=...>,
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characters may be escaped by \ (backslash), no spaces are skipped.
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this option causes field values to be interpreted as UTF8 strings, by
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default they are interpreted as ASCII. This means that the field
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values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a
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configuration file, must be valid UTF8 strings.
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=item B<-multivalue-rdn>
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this option causes the -subj argument to be interpretedt with full
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support for multivalued RDNs. Example:
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I</DC=org/DC=OpenSSL/DC=users/UID=123456+CN=John Doe>
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If -multi-rdn is not used then the UID value is I<123456+CN=John Doe>.
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this option generates a CRL based on information in the index file.
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=item B<-crldays num>
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the number of days before the next CRL is due. That is the days from
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now to place in the CRL nextUpdate field.
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=item B<-crlhours num>
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the number of hours before the next CRL is due.
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=item B<-revoke filename>
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a filename containing a certificate to revoke.
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=item B<-crl_reason reason>
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revocation reason, where B<reason> is one of: B<unspecified>, B<keyCompromise>,
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B<CACompromise>, B<affiliationChanged>, B<superseded>, B<cessationOfOperation>,
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B<certificateHold> or B<removeFromCRL>. The matching of B<reason> is case
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insensitive. Setting any revocation reason will make the CRL v2.
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In practive B<removeFromCRL> is not particularly useful because it is only used
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in delta CRLs which are not currently implemented.
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=item B<-crl_hold instruction>
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This sets the CRL revocation reason code to B<certificateHold> and the hold
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instruction to B<instruction> which must be an OID. Although any OID can be
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used only B<holdInstructionNone> (the use of which is discouraged by RFC2459)
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B<holdInstructionCallIssuer> or B<holdInstructionReject> will normally be used.
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=item B<-crl_compromise time>
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This sets the revocation reason to B<keyCompromise> and the compromise time to
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B<time>. B<time> should be in GeneralizedTime format that is B<YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ>.
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=item B<-crl_CA_compromise time>
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This is the same as B<crl_compromise> except the revocation reason is set to
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=item B<-crlexts section>
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the section of the configuration file containing CRL extensions to
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include. If no CRL extension section is present then a V1 CRL is
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created, if the CRL extension section is present (even if it is
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empty) then a V2 CRL is created. The CRL extensions specified are
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CRL extensions and B<not> CRL entry extensions. It should be noted
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that some software (for example Netscape) can't handle V2 CRLs.
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=head1 CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS
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The section of the configuration file containing options for B<ca>
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is found as follows: If the B<-name> command line option is used,
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then it names the section to be used. Otherwise the section to
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be used must be named in the B<default_ca> option of the B<ca> section
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of the configuration file (or in the default section of the
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configuration file). Besides B<default_ca>, the following options are
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read directly from the B<ca> section:
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With the exception of B<RANDFILE>, this is probably a bug and may
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change in future releases.
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Many of the configuration file options are identical to command line
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options. Where the option is present in the configuration file
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and the command line the command line value is used. Where an
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option is described as mandatory then it must be present in
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the configuration file or the command line equivalent (if
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This specifies a file containing additional B<OBJECT IDENTIFIERS>.
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Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the
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object identifier followed by white space then the short name followed
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by white space and finally the long name.
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This specifies a section in the configuration file containing extra
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object identifiers. Each line should consist of the short name of the
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object identifier followed by B<=> and the numerical form. The short
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and long names are the same when this option is used.
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=item B<new_certs_dir>
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the same as the B<-outdir> command line option. It specifies
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the directory where new certificates will be placed. Mandatory.
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the same as B<-cert>. It gives the file containing the CA
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certificate. Mandatory.
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same as the B<-keyfile> option. The file containing the
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CA private key. Mandatory.
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a file used to read and write random number seed information, or
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an EGD socket (see L<RAND_egd(3)|RAND_egd(3)>).
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=item B<default_days>
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the same as the B<-days> option. The number of days to certify
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=item B<default_startdate>
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the same as the B<-startdate> option. The start date to certify
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a certificate for. If not set the current time is used.
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=item B<default_enddate>
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the same as the B<-enddate> option. Either this option or
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B<default_days> (or the command line equivalents) must be
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=item B<default_crl_hours default_crl_days>
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the same as the B<-crlhours> and the B<-crldays> options. These
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will only be used if neither command line option is present. At
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least one of these must be present to generate a CRL.
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the same as the B<-md> option. The message digest to use. Mandatory.
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the text database file to use. Mandatory. This file must be present
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though initially it will be empty.
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=item B<unique_subject>
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if the value B<yes> is given, the valid certificate entries in the
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database must have unique subjects. if the value B<no> is given,
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several valid certificate entries may have the exact same subject.
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The default value is B<yes>, to be compatible with older (pre 0.9.8)
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versions of OpenSSL. However, to make CA certificate roll-over easier,
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it's recommended to use the value B<no>, especially if combined with
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the B<-selfsign> command line option.
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a text file containing the next serial number to use in hex. Mandatory.
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This file must be present and contain a valid serial number.
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a text file containing the next CRL number to use in hex. The crl number
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will be inserted in the CRLs only if this file exists. If this file is
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present, it must contain a valid CRL number.
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=item B<x509_extensions>
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the same as B<-extensions>.
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=item B<crl_extensions>
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the same as B<-crlexts>.
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the same as B<-preserveDN>
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the same as B<-noemailDN>. If you want the EMAIL field to be removed
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from the DN of the certificate simply set this to 'no'. If not present
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the default is to allow for the EMAIL filed in the certificate's DN.
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the same as B<-msie_hack>
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the same as B<-policy>. Mandatory. See the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
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for more information.
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=item B<name_opt>, B<cert_opt>
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these options allow the format used to display the certificate details
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when asking the user to confirm signing. All the options supported by
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the B<x509> utilities B<-nameopt> and B<-certopt> switches can be used
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here, except the B<no_signame> and B<no_sigdump> are permanently set
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and cannot be disabled (this is because the certificate signature cannot
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be displayed because the certificate has not been signed at this point).
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For convenience the values B<ca_default> are accepted by both to produce
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If neither option is present the format used in earlier versions of
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OpenSSL is used. Use of the old format is B<strongly> discouraged because
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it only displays fields mentioned in the B<policy> section, mishandles
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multicharacter string types and does not display extensions.
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=item B<copy_extensions>
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determines how extensions in certificate requests should be handled.
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If set to B<none> or this option is not present then extensions are
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ignored and not copied to the certificate. If set to B<copy> then any
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extensions present in the request that are not already present are copied
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to the certificate. If set to B<copyall> then all extensions in the
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request are copied to the certificate: if the extension is already present
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in the certificate it is deleted first. See the B<WARNINGS> section before
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The main use of this option is to allow a certificate request to supply
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values for certain extensions such as subjectAltName.
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The policy section consists of a set of variables corresponding to
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certificate DN fields. If the value is "match" then the field value
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must match the same field in the CA certificate. If the value is
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"supplied" then it must be present. If the value is "optional" then
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it may be present. Any fields not mentioned in the policy section
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are silently deleted, unless the B<-preserveDN> option is set but
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this can be regarded more of a quirk than intended behaviour.
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The input to the B<-spkac> command line option is a Netscape
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signed public key and challenge. This will usually come from
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the B<KEYGEN> tag in an HTML form to create a new private key.
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It is however possible to create SPKACs using the B<spkac> utility.
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The file should contain the variable SPKAC set to the value of
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the SPKAC and also the required DN components as name value pairs.
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If you need to include the same component twice then it can be
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preceded by a number and a '.'.
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Note: these examples assume that the B<ca> directory structure is
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already set up and the relevant files already exist. This usually
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involves creating a CA certificate and private key with B<req>, a
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serial number file and an empty index file and placing them in
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the relevant directories.
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To use the sample configuration file below the directories demoCA,
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demoCA/private and demoCA/newcerts would be created. The CA
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certificate would be copied to demoCA/cacert.pem and its private
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key to demoCA/private/cakey.pem. A file demoCA/serial would be
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created containing for example "01" and the empty index file
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Sign a certificate request:
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openssl ca -in req.pem -out newcert.pem
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Sign a certificate request, using CA extensions:
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openssl ca -in req.pem -extensions v3_ca -out newcert.pem
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openssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem
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Sign several requests:
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openssl ca -infiles req1.pem req2.pem req3.pem
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Certify a Netscape SPKAC:
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openssl ca -spkac spkac.txt
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A sample SPKAC file (the SPKAC line has been truncated for clarity):
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SPKAC=MIG0MGAwXDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAANLADBIAkEAn7PDhCeV/xIxUg8V70YRxK2A5
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emailAddress=steve@openssl.org
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A sample configuration file with the relevant sections for B<ca>:
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default_ca = CA_default # The default ca section
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dir = ./demoCA # top dir
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database = $dir/index.txt # index file.
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new_certs_dir = $dir/newcerts # new certs dir
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certificate = $dir/cacert.pem # The CA cert
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serial = $dir/serial # serial no file
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private_key = $dir/private/cakey.pem# CA private key
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RANDFILE = $dir/private/.rand # random number file
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default_days = 365 # how long to certify for
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default_crl_days= 30 # how long before next CRL
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default_md = md5 # md to use
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policy = policy_any # default policy
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email_in_dn = no # Don't add the email into cert DN
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name_opt = ca_default # Subject name display option
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cert_opt = ca_default # Certificate display option
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copy_extensions = none # Don't copy extensions from request
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countryName = supplied
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stateOrProvinceName = optional
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organizationName = optional
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organizationalUnitName = optional
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commonName = supplied
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emailAddress = optional
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Note: the location of all files can change either by compile time options,
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configuration file entries, environment variables or command line options.
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The values below reflect the default values.
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/usr/local/ssl/lib/openssl.cnf - master configuration file
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./demoCA - main CA directory
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./demoCA/cacert.pem - CA certificate
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./demoCA/private/cakey.pem - CA private key
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./demoCA/serial - CA serial number file
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./demoCA/serial.old - CA serial number backup file
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./demoCA/index.txt - CA text database file
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./demoCA/index.txt.old - CA text database backup file
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./demoCA/certs - certificate output file
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./demoCA/.rnd - CA random seed information
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=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
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B<OPENSSL_CONF> reflects the location of master configuration file it can
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be overridden by the B<-config> command line option.
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The text database index file is a critical part of the process and
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if corrupted it can be difficult to fix. It is theoretically possible
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to rebuild the index file from all the issued certificates and a current
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CRL: however there is no option to do this.
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V2 CRL features like delta CRLs are not currently supported.
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Although several requests can be input and handled at once it is only
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possible to include one SPKAC or self signed certificate.
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The use of an in memory text database can cause problems when large
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numbers of certificates are present because, as the name implies
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the database has to be kept in memory.
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The B<ca> command really needs rewriting or the required functionality
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exposed at either a command or interface level so a more friendly utility
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(perl script or GUI) can handle things properly. The scripts B<CA.sh> and
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B<CA.pl> help a little but not very much.
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Any fields in a request that are not present in a policy are silently
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deleted. This does not happen if the B<-preserveDN> option is used. To
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enforce the absence of the EMAIL field within the DN, as suggested by
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RFCs, regardless the contents of the request' subject the B<-noemailDN>
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option can be used. The behaviour should be more friendly and
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Cancelling some commands by refusing to certify a certificate can
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create an empty file.
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The B<ca> command is quirky and at times downright unfriendly.
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The B<ca> utility was originally meant as an example of how to do things
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in a CA. It was not supposed to be used as a full blown CA itself:
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nevertheless some people are using it for this purpose.
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The B<ca> command is effectively a single user command: no locking is
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done on the various files and attempts to run more than one B<ca> command
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on the same database can have unpredictable results.
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The B<copy_extensions> option should be used with caution. If care is
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not taken then it can be a security risk. For example if a certificate
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request contains a basicConstraints extension with CA:TRUE and the
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B<copy_extensions> value is set to B<copyall> and the user does not spot
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this when the certificate is displayed then this will hand the requestor
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a valid CA certificate.
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This situation can be avoided by setting B<copy_extensions> to B<copy>
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and including basicConstraints with CA:FALSE in the configuration file.
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Then if the request contains a basicConstraints extension it will be
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It is advisable to also include values for other extensions such
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as B<keyUsage> to prevent a request supplying its own values.
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Additional restrictions can be placed on the CA certificate itself.
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For example if the CA certificate has:
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basicConstraints = CA:TRUE, pathlen:0
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then even if a certificate is issued with CA:TRUE it will not be valid.
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L<req(1)|req(1)>, L<spkac(1)|spkac(1)>, L<x509(1)|x509(1)>, L<CA.pl(1)|CA.pl(1)>,
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L<config(5)|config(5)>
added
removed
doc/apps/ca.pod
