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)