certtool(1) Manipulate certificates and keys.

SYNOPSIS

certtool [options]

DESCRIPTION

Generate X.509 certificates, certificate requests, and private keys.

OPTIONS

Program control options

-d, --debug LEVEL
Specify the debug level. Default is 1.
-h, --help
Shows this help text
-v, --version
Shows the program's version

Getting information on X.509 certificates

-i, --certificate-info
Print information on a certificate.
-k, --key-info
Print information on a private key.
-l, --crl-info
Print information on a CRL.
--p12-info
Print information on a PKCS #12 structure.

Getting information on Openpgp certificates

--pgp--certificate-info
Print information on an OpenPGP certificate.
--pgp--key-info
Print information on an OpenPGP private key.
--pgp--ring-info
Print information on a keyring.

Generating/verifying X.509 certificates/keys

-c, --generate-certificate
Generate a signed certificate.
-e, --verify-chain
Verify a PEM encoded certificate chain. The last certificate in the chain must be a self signed one.
--generate-dh-params
Generate PKCS #3 encoded Diffie-Hellman parameters.
--load-ca-certificate FILE
Certificate authority's certificate file to use.
--load-ca-privkey FILE
Certificate authority's private key file or PKCS #11 URL to use.
--load-certificate FILE
Certificate file to use.
--load-privkey FILE
Private key file or PKCS #11 URL to use.
--load-pubkey FILE
Public key file or PKCS #11 URL to use.
--load-request FILE
Certificate request file to use.
-p, --generate-privkey
Generate a private key.
-q, --generate-request
Generate a PKCS #10 certificate request.
-s, --generate-self-signed
Generate a self-signed certificate.
-u, --update-certificate
Update a signed certificate.

Controlling output

-8, --pkcs8
Use PKCS #8 format for private keys.
--pkcs-cipher
The cipher to use when doing pkcs encryption. Valid options are 3des,aes-128,aes-192,aes-256,rc2-40
--dsa
Generate a DSA key.
--bits BITS
Specify the number of bits for key generation.
--export-ciphers
Use weak encryption algorithms.
--inraw
Use RAW/DER format for input certificates and private keys.
--infile FILE
Input file.
--outraw
Use RAW/DER format for output certificates and private keys.
--outfile FILE
Output file.
--password PASSWORD
Password to use.
--to-p12
Generate a PKCS #12 structure.
--template
Use a template file to read input. See the doc/certtool.cfg in the distribution, for an example.
--fix-key
Some previous versions of certtool generated wrongly the optional parameters in a private key. This may affect programs that used them. To fix an old private key use --key-info in combination with this parameter.
--v1
When generating a certificate use the X.509 version 1 format. This does not add any extensions (such as indication for a CA) but some programs do need these.

EXAMPLES

To create a private key, run: 

$ certtool --generate-privkey --outfile key.pem

To create a certificate request (needed when the certificate is issued by another party), run: 

$ certtool --generate-request --load-privkey key.pem \
   --outfile request.pem

To create a certificate request using a key stored in a PKCS #11 token, run: 

$ ./certtool --generate-request --load-privkey "pkcs11:..." \
  --load-pubkey "pkcs11:..." --outfile request.pem

To generate a certificate using the previous request, use the command: 

$ certtool --generate-certificate --load-request request.pem \
   --outfile cert.pem --load-ca-certificate ca-cert.pem \
   --load-ca-privkey ca-key.pem

To generate a certificate using the private key only, use the command: 

$ certtool --generate-certificate --load-privkey key.pem \
   --outfile cert.pem --load-ca-certificate ca-cert.pem \
   --load-ca-privkey ca-key.pem

To view the certificate information, use: 

$ certtool --certificate-info --infile cert.pem

To generate a PKCS #12 structure using the previous key and certificate, use the command: 

$ certtool --load-certificate cert.pem --load-privkey key.pem \
   --to-p12 --outder --outfile key.p12

AUTHOR

Nikos Mavrogiannopoulos <[email protected]> and others; see /usr/share/doc/gnutls-bin/AUTHORS for a complete list.

This manual page was written by Ivo Timmermans <[email protected]>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).

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