- NAME
- SYNOPSIS
- DESCRIPTION
- OPTIONS
- CRL OPTIONS
- CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS
- POLICY FORMAT
- SPKAC FORMAT
- EXAMPLES
- FILES
- ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
- RESTRICTIONS
- BUGS
- WARNINGS
- SEE ALSO
- COPYRIGHT

# NAME

ca - sample minimal CA application

# SYNOPSIS

gmssl ca [-help] [-verbose] [-config filename] [-name section] [-gencrl] [-revoke file] [-valid file] [-status serial] [-updatedb] [-crl_reason reason] [-crl_hold instruction] [-crl_compromise time] [-crl_CA_compromise time] [-crldays days] [-crlhours hours] [-crlexts section] [-startdate date] [-enddate date] [-days arg] [-md arg] [-policy arg] [-keyfile arg] [-keyform PEM|DER] [-key arg] [-passin arg] [-cert file] [-selfsign] [-in file] [-out file] [-notext] [-outdir dir] [-infiles] [-spkac file] [-ss_cert file] [-preserveDN] [-noemailDN] [-batch] [-msie_hack] [-extensions section] [-extfile section] [-engine id] [-subj arg] [-utf8] [-create_serial] [-multivalue-rdn]

# DESCRIPTION

The ca command is a minimal CA application. It can be used to sign certificate requests in a variety of forms and generate CRLs it also maintains a text database of issued certificates and their status.

The options descriptions will be divided into each purpose.

ca指令是CA中很小的应用。它可以用来签发各种形式的用户证书并产生CRL。它还可以用来更新证书库。 在这些指令的介绍中，将尽可能地对它们进行分类介绍。

# OPTIONS

-help

  Print out a usage message.

  显示用法信息。

-verbose

  this prints extra details about the operations being performed.

  输出更详细的一些操作过程信息。

-config filename

  specifies the configuration file to use.

  指定将要使用的配置文件。

-name section

  specifies the configuration file section to use (overrides default_ca in the ca section).

  指定将要使用的配置文件部分（覆盖ca部分中的default_ca部分）

-in filename

  an input filename containing a single certificate request to be signed by the CA.

  一个输入文件名包含了一个要由CA签名的单独证书请求。

-ss_cert filename

  a single self-signed certificate to be signed by the CA.

  一个要由CA签名的自签名证书。

-spkac filename

  a file containing a single Netscape signed public key and challenge and additional field values to be signed by the CA. See the SPKAC FORMAT section for information on the required input and output format.

  一个包含了一个单独的Netscape签名的公钥和其他附加用户信息。 关于输入输出格式的信息具体可以参考SPKAC部分。

-infiles

  if present this should be the last option, all subsequent arguments are taken as the names of files containing certificate requests.

  该选项总是作为指令的最后一个选项，其后面所有的参数都被认为是证书请求文件。

-out filename

  the output file to output certificates to. The default is standard output. The certificate details will also be printed out to this file in PEM format (except that -spkac outputs DER format).

  输出文件输出签发好的证书。默认值为标准输出。输出的证书都是PEM编码的（除了spkac输出DER编码）

-outdir directory

  the directory to output certificates to. The certificate will be written to a filename consisting of the serial number in hex with ".pem" appended.

  将新生成的证书输出到目录。新生成证书将会序列号加“pem”后缀成为一个完整的证书文件名。

-cert

  the CA certificate file.

  CA证书文件。

-keyfile filename

  the private key to sign requests with.

  用于签署请求的私钥。

-keyform PEM|DER

  the format of the data in the private key file. The default is PEM.

  私钥文件中数据的格式。默认为PEM。

-key password

  the password used to encrypt the private key. Since on some systems the command line arguments are visible (e.g. Unix with the 'ps' utility) this option should be used with caution.

  用于加密私钥的密码。因为在某些系统上命令行参数是可见的（例如使用“ps”实用程序的Unix），应谨慎使用此指令。

-selfsign

  indicates the issued certificates are to be signed with the key the certificate requests were signed with (given with -keyfile). Certificate requests signed with a different key are ignored. If -spkac, -ss_cert or -gencrl are given, -selfsign is ignored.

  A consequence of using -selfsign is that the self-signed certificate appears among the entries in the certificate database (see the configuration option database), and uses the same serial number counter as all other certificates sign with the self-signed certificate.

  表示发出的证书将使用证书请求签名的密钥（以-keyfile命名）进行签名。 使用不同密钥签名的证书请求将被忽略。如果给出-spkac，-ss_cert或-gencrl，则忽略-selfsign

  使用-selfsign的结果是自签名证书出现在证书数据库的条目中，并使用与其他证书相同的序列号计数器。

-passin arg

  the key password source. For more information about the format of arg see the PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS section in gmssl(1).

  给定了读取私钥文件的时候需要提供的口令。

-notext

  don't output the text form of a certificate to the output file.

  不把证书的文本形式输出到输出文件。

-startdate date

  this allows the start date to be explicitly set. The format of the date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure).

  设置证书的生效时间，其参数格式是“YYMMDDHHMMSSZ”。

-enddate date

  this allows the expiry date to be explicitly set. The format of the date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure).

  设置证书的到期时间，其参数格式是“YYMMDDHHMMSSZ”。

-days arg

  the number of days to certify the certificate for.

  设置证书的有效天数。

-md alg

  the message digest to use. Any digest supported by the GmSSL dgst command can be used. This option also applies to CRLs.

  消息摘要使用。 可以使用GmSSL dgst命令支持的任何摘要。 该选项也适用于CRLs。

-policy arg

  this option defines the CA "policy" to use. This is a section in the configuration file which decides which fields should be mandatory or match the CA certificate. Check out the POLICY FORMAT section for more information.

  该选项定义了CA的匹配策略。这是配置文件中的一部分，它决定了哪些字段应该是必须的 或与CA证书匹配。查看policy format部分来了解更多信息。

-msie_hack

  this is a legacy option to make ca work with very old versions of the IE certificate enrollment control "certenr3". It used UniversalStrings for almost everything. Since the old control has various security bugs its use is strongly discouraged. The newer control "Xenroll" does not need this option.

  这是一个遗留的项目，它可以使ca可以使用非常老的ie证书注册控件centenr3.它几乎所有东西 都使用了UniversalStrings。我们非常不推荐使用旧版控件应为它有很多的安全漏洞。新的控件 Xenroll不需要这一项。

-preserveDN

  Normally the DN order of a certificate is the same as the order of the fields in the relevant policy section. When this option is set the order is the same as the request. This is largely for compatibility with the older IE enrollment control which would only accept certificates if their DNs match the order of the request. This is not needed for Xenroll.

  使指令在签发证书的时候让证书主体名称内的各项内容顺序跟证书请求中的顺序保持一致。 而在默认情况下，证书主题名称内的各个选项顺序是按照配置文件中的证书匹配策略子段的 选项顺序进行排列的。

-noemailDN

  The DN of a certificate can contain the EMAIL field if present in the request DN, however it is good policy just having the e-mail set into the altName extension of the certificate. When this option is set the EMAIL field is removed from the certificate' subject and set only in the, eventually present, extensions. The email_in_dn keyword can be used in the configuration file to enable this behaviour.

  一个证书的主体名称可以包含E-mail项目，但是将电子邮件放在主体别名中会更好一点。 当你启用这个选项后e-mail会从证书主体名称移除并最终设在主体别名中。 可以在配置文件中使用email_in_dn来启用这个行为。

-batch

  this sets the batch mode. In this mode no questions will be asked and all certificates will be certified automatically.

  该选项设定batch模式。在这一模式中ca指令不提示用户输入任何信息而直接签发所有输入的证书请求。

-extensions section

  the section of the configuration file containing certificate extensions to be added when a certificate is issued (defaults to x509_extensions unless the -extfile option is used). If no extension section is present then, a V1 certificate is created. If the extension section is present (even if it is empty), then a V3 certificate is created. See the:w x509v3_config(5) manual page for details of the extension section format.

  配置文件部分包含了颁发证书时要添加的证书扩展名（默认为x509_extensions,除非使用-extfile选项）。 如果没有扩展部分，则创建V1证书。如果存在扩展部分（即使该部分为空），则创建V3证书。 有关扩展部分格式的详细信息，请参阅x509v3_config（5）手册页。

-extfile file

  an additional configuration file to read certificate extensions from (using the default section unless the -extensions option is also used).

  一个专门用来保存X.509 v3扩展项信息的文件。

-engine id

  specifying an engine (by its unique id string) will cause ca to attempt to obtain a functional reference to the specified engine, thus initialising it if needed. The engine will then be set as the default for all available algorithms.

  指定一个引擎（通过其唯一的id字符串）会导致ca尝试获取对指定engine设备的功能引用 并进行初始化如果需要。这个engine将被设置为所有可用算法的默认。

-subj arg

  supersedes subject name given in the request. The arg must be formatted as /type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=..., characters may be escaped by \ (backslash), no spaces are skipped.

  重新填写用户的证书主体名称。subj选项的参数格式为/type0=value0/type1=value1/type2...，字符可能会被\转义，空格不被跳过。

-utf8

  this option causes field values to be interpreted as UTF8 strings, by default they are interpreted as ASCII. This means that the field values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a configuration file, must be valid UTF8 strings.

  这一选项字段值转为UTF8字符串，默认情况下为ASCII。这意味着字段值（无论从终端提示还是从配置文件获取）都必须是有效的UTF8字符串。

-create_serial

  if reading serial from the text file as specified in the configuration fails, specifying this option creates a new random serial to be used as next serial number.

  如果从配置中指定的文本文件读取序列失败，该选项可以创造一个新的随机序列作为下一个序列号。

-multivalue-rdn

  This option causes the -subj argument to be interpreted with full support for multivalued RDNs. Example:

  该选项可以解释-subj参数，并完全支持多RND。

  /DC=org/DC=GmSSL/DC=users/UID=123456+CN=John Doe

  If -multi-rdn is not used then the UID value is 123456+CN=John Doe.

# CRL OPTIONS

-gencrl

  this option generates a CRL based on information in the index file.

  该选项用于生成一个基于索引文件信息的CFL，

-crldays num

  the number of days before the next CRL is due. That is the days from now to place in the CRL nextUpdate field.

  以“天”为单位设置CRL的有效期。

-crlhours num

  the number of hours before the next CRL is due.

  以小时为单位设置CRL有效期。

-revoke filename

  a filename containing a certificate to revoke.

  一个包含要撤销的证书的文件名

-valid filename

  a filename containing a certificate to add a Valid certificate entry.

  一个包含添加有效证书条目的证书的文件名。

-status serial

  displays the revocation status of the certificate with the specified serial number and exits.

  显示具有指定序列号的证书的撤销状态并退出。

-updatedb

  Updates the database index to purge expired certificates.

  更新数据库索引清除以过期的证书。

-crl_reason reason

  revocation reason, where reason is one of: unspecified, keyCompromise, CACompromise, affiliationChanged, superseded, cessationOfOperation, certificateHold or removeFromCRL. The matching of reason is case insensitive. Setting any revocation reason will make the CRL v2.

  In practice removeFromCRL is not particularly useful because it is only used in delta CRLs which are not currently implemented.

  撤销原因，其中的原因有：未指定，key妥协，CA妥协，联系改变，superseded，cessationofoperation，insensitive。设置任何撤销原因将使CRL变成v2.

  实际上，removeFromCRL不是特别有用因为，因为它仅用于当前未实现的deltaCRL。

-crl_hold instruction

  This sets the CRL revocation reason code to certificateHold and the hold instruction to instruction which must be an OID. Although any OID can be used only holdInstructionNone (the use of which is discouraged by RFC2459) holdInstructionCallIssuer or holdInstructionReject will normally be used.

  这会将CRL撤销原因代码设置为certificatehold，并将指令的保持指令设置为必须是OID的指令。 虽然任何OID只能使用holdInstructionNone*RFC2459不鼓励使用它），但通常会使用holdInstructionCallIssuer或holdInstruvtionReject。

-crl_compromise time

  This sets the revocation reason to keyCompromise and the compromise time to time. time should be in GeneralizedTime format that is YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ.

  将撤销原因设置为keyCompromise并将妥协时间设为time。time应为广义时间格式：YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ。

-crl_CA_compromise time

  This is the same as crl_compromise except the revocation reason is set to CACompromise.

  该选项与crl_compromise一样，除了撤销原因是CACompromise。

-crlexts section

  the section of the configuration file containing CRL extensions to include. If no CRL extension section is present then a V1 CRL is created, if the CRL extension section is present (even if it is empty) then a V2 CRL is created. The CRL extensions specified are CRL extensions and not CRL entry extensions. It should be noted that some software (for example Netscape) can't handle V2 CRLs. See x509v3_config(5) manual page for details of the extension section format.

  这部分包含CRL扩展的配置文件。 如果不存在CRL扩展部分，则创建V1 CRL，如果存在CRL扩展部分（即使为空），则创建V2 CRL。 指定的CRL扩展是CRL扩展，而不是CRL条目扩展。 应该注意的是，某些软件（例如Netscape）无法处理V2 CRL。 有关扩展部分格式的详细信息，请参阅x509v3_config（5）手册页。

# CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS

The section of the configuration file containing options for ca is found as follows: If the -name command line option is used, then it names the section to be used. Otherwise the section to be used must be named in the default_ca option of the ca section of the configuration file (or in the default section of the configuration file). Besides default_ca, the following options are read directly from the ca section: RANDFILE preserve msie_hack With the exception of RANDFILE, this is probably a bug and may change in future releases.

Many of the configuration file options are identical to command line options. Where the option is present in the configuration file and the command line the command line value is used. Where an option is described as mandatory then it must be present in the configuration file or the command line equivalent (if any) used.

包含ca选项的配置文件部分如下所示：如果使用-name命令行选项，则命名要使用的部分。 否则要使用的部分必须在配置文件（或配置文件的默认部分）的ca部分的default_ca选项中命名。 除了default_ca，以下选项直接从ca部分读取：RANDFILE preserve msie_hack除了RANDFILE之外，这可能是一个错误，可能会在将来的版本中更改。

许多配置文件选项与命令行选项相同。 在配置文件和命令行中存在选项的地方，使用命令行值。 在某个选项被描述为强制性的情况下，它必须存在于配置文件或命令行等效（如果有的话）中。

oid_file

  This specifies a file containing additional OBJECT IDENTIFIERS. 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.

  这指定一个包含其他对象标识符的文件。 文件的每一行应由对象标识符的数字形式组成 ，后跟空格，短名称后跟空格，最后是长名称。

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.

  这指定了配置文件中包含额外对象标识符的部分。 每一行都应该包含对象标识符的短名称， 后面是=和数字形式。 当使用此选项时，短名称和长名称相同。

new_certs_dir

  the same as the -outdir command line option. It specifies the directory where new certificates will be placed. Mandatory.

  与-outdir命令行选项相同。 它指定将放置新证书的目录。强制性。

certificate

  the same as -cert. It gives the file containing the CA certificate. Mandatory.

  与-cert命令行选项相同。它给出包含CA证书的文件。强制性。

private_key

  same as the -keyfile option. The file containing the CA private key. Mandatory.

  与-keyfile选项相同。文件包含CA私钥。强制性。

RANDFILE

  a file used to read and write random number seed information, or an EGD socket (see RAND_egd(3)).

  用于读取和写入随机数种子信息的文件，或EGD套接字（请参阅RAND_egd（3））。

default_days

  the same as the -days option. The number of days to certify a certificate for.

  和-days相同。认证证书的天数。

default_startdate

  the same as the -startdate option. The start date to certify a certificate for. If not set the current time is used.

  和-startdate相同。认证证书的开始日期。 如果未设置，则使用当前时间。

default_enddate

  the same as the -enddate option. Either this option or default_days (or the command line equivalents) must be present.

  和-enddate相同。该选项或default_days（或命令行等效项）必须存在。

default_crl_hours default_crl_days

  the same as the -crlhours and the -crldays options. These will only be used if neither command line option is present. At least one of these must be present to generate a CRL.

  与-crlhours和-crldays选项一样。 只有在命令行选项不存在的情况下才会使用这些。 必须至少有一个必须存在才能生成CRL。

default_md

  the same as the -md option. Mandatory.

  和-md一样。强制性。

database

  the text database file to use. Mandatory. This file must be present though initially it will be empty.

  要使用的文本数据库文件。强制性。该文件必须存在但一开始它是空的。

unique_subject

  if the value yes is given, the valid certificate entries in the database must have unique subjects. if the value no is given, several valid certificate entries may have the exact same subject. The default value is yes, to be compatible with older (pre 0.9.8) versions of GmSSL. However, to make CA certificate roll-over easier, it's recommended to use the value no, especially if combined with the -selfsign command line option.

  如果给出值yes，则数据库中的有效证书条目必须具有唯一主题。 如果给出值no，几个有效的证书条目可能具有完全相同的主题。 默认值为yes，与GmSSL的旧版（0.9.8）版本兼容。 但是，为了使CA证书转换更容易，建议使用值no，特别是如果与-selfsign命令行选项相结合。

serial

  a text file containing the next serial number to use in hex. Mandatory. This file must be present and contain a valid serial number.

  一个包含了下一个要使用序列号的十六进制文本文件。强制性。 该文件必须存在并包含有效的序列号。

crlnumber

  a text file containing the next CRL number to use in hex. The crl number will be inserted in the CRLs only if this file exists. If this file is present, it must contain a valid CRL number.

  包含用于十六进制的下一个CRL编号的文本文件。 只有当此文件存在时，crl号才会插入到CRL中。 如果此文件存在，它必须包含有效的CRL号码。

x509_extensions

  the same as -extensions.

  和-extensions一样

crl_extensions

  the same as -crlexts.

  和-crlexts一样

preserve

  the same as -preserveDN

  和-peserveDN一样

email_in_dn

  the same as -noemailDN. If you want the EMAIL field to be removed from the DN of the certificate simply set this to 'no'. If not present the default is to allow for the EMAIL field in the certificate's DN.

  和-noemailDN一样。如果您希望将EMAIL字段从证书的DN中删除，请将其设置为“否”。 如果不存在，默认值是允许证书的DN中的EMAIL字段。

msie_hack

  the same as -msie_hack

  和-msie_hack一样

policy

  the same as -policy. Mandatory. See the POLICY FORMAT section for more information.

  和-policy一样。强制性。更多详情请参考POLICY FORMAT部分。

name_opt, cert_opt

  these options allow the format used to display the certificate details when asking the user to confirm signing. All the options supported by the x509 utilities -nameopt and -certopt switches can be used here, except the no_signame and no_sigdump are permanently set and cannot be disabled (this is because the certificate signature cannot be displayed because the certificate has not been signed at this point).

  For convenience the values ca_default are accepted by both to produce a reasonable output.

  If neither option is present the format used in earlier versions of GmSSL is used. Use of the old format is strongly discouraged because it only displays fields mentioned in the policy section, mishandles multicharacter string types and does not display extensions.

  这些选项允许在询问用户确认签名时用于显示证书详细信息的格式。 x509 utilities -nameopt和-certopt开关支持的所有选项可以在这里使用，除了no_signame和no_sigdump被永久设置并且不能禁用（这是因为证书签名无法显示，因为证书尚未在此签名 点）。

  为方便起见，ca_default值被两者接受以产生合理的输出。

  如果两个选项不存在，则使用早期版本的GmSSL中使用的格式。 强烈建议不要使用旧格式，因为它仅显示策略部分中提及的字段，处理多字符串字符串类型，并且不显示扩展名。

copy_extensions

  determines how extensions in certificate requests should be handled. If set to none or this option is not present then extensions are ignored and not copied to the certificate. If set to copy then any extensions present in the request that are not already present are copied to the certificate. If set to copyall then all extensions in the request are copied to the certificate: if the extension is already present in the certificate it is deleted first. See the WARNINGS section before using this option.

  The main use of this option is to allow a certificate request to supply values for certain extensions such as subjectAltName.

  确定如何处理证书请求中的扩展。 如果设置为none或此选项不存在，则扩展名将被忽略，不会复制到证书。 如果设置为复制，请求中存在的任何尚未存在的扩展名将复制到证书。 如果设置为copyall，则请求中的所有扩展都将复制到证书中：如果扩展名已经存在于证书中，则首先将其删除。 使用此选项之前，请参阅警告部分。

  此选项的主要用途是允许证书请求为某些扩展名（如subjectAltName）提供值。

# POLICY FORMAT

The policy section consists of a set of variables corresponding to certificate DN fields. If the value is "match" then the field value must match the same field in the CA certificate. If the value is "supplied" then it must be present. If the value is "optional" then it may be present. Any fields not mentioned in the policy section are silently deleted, unless the -preserveDN option is set but this can be regarded more of a quirk than intended behaviour.

# SPKAC FORMAT

The input to the -spkac command line option is a Netscape signed public key and challenge. This will usually come from the KEYGEN tag in an HTML form to create a new private key. It is however possible to create SPKACs using the spkac utility.

The file should contain the variable SPKAC set to the value of the SPKAC and also the required DN components as name value pairs. If you need to include the same component twice then it can be preceded by a number and a '.'.

When processing SPKAC format, the output is DER if the -out flag is used, but PEM format if sending to stdout or the -outdir flag is used.

# EXAMPLES

Note: these examples assume that the ca directory structure is already set up and the relevant files already exist. This usually involves creating a CA certificate and private key with req, a serial number file and an empty index file and placing them in the relevant directories.

To use the sample configuration file below the directories demoCA, demoCA/private and demoCA/newcerts would be created. The CA certificate would be copied to demoCA/cacert.pem and its private key to demoCA/private/cakey.pem. A file demoCA/serial would be created containing for example "01" and the empty index file demoCA/index.txt.

Sign a certificate request:

     gmssl ca -in req.pem -out newcert.pem

Sign a certificate request, using CA extensions:

     gmssl ca -in req.pem -extensions v3_ca -out newcert.pem

Generate a CRL

     gmssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem

Sign several requests:

     gmssl ca -infiles req1.pem req2.pem req3.pem

Certify a Netscape SPKAC:

     gmssl ca -spkac spkac.txt

A sample SPKAC file (the SPKAC line has been truncated for clarity):

     SPKAC=MIG0MGAwXDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAANLADBIAkEAn7PDhCeV/xIxUg8V70YRxK2A5
     CN=Steve Test
     emailAddress=steve@gmssl.org
     0.OU=GmSSL Group
     1.OU=Another Group

A sample configuration file with the relevant sections for ca:

     [ ca ]
     default_ca      = CA_default            # The default ca section

     [ CA_default ]

     dir            = ./demoCA              # top dir
     database       = $dir/index.txt        # index file.
     new_certs_dir  = $dir/newcerts         # new certs dir

     certificate    = $dir/cacert.pem       # The CA cert
     serial         = $dir/serial           # serial no file
     private_key    = $dir/private/cakey.pem# CA private key
     RANDFILE       = $dir/private/.rand    # random number file

     default_days   = 365                   # how long to certify for
     default_crl_days= 30                   # how long before next CRL
     default_md     = md5                   # md to use

     policy         = policy_any            # default policy
     email_in_dn    = no                    # Don't add the email into cert DN

     name_opt       = ca_default            # Subject name display option
     cert_opt       = ca_default            # Certificate display option
     copy_extensions = none                 # Don't copy extensions from request

     [ policy_any ]
     countryName            = supplied
     stateOrProvinceName    = optional
     organizationName       = optional
     organizationalUnitName = optional
     commonName             = supplied
     emailAddress           = optional

# FILES

Note: the location of all files can change either by compile time options, configuration file entries, environment variables or command line options. The values below reflect the default values.

     /usr/local/ssl/lib/openssl.cnf - master configuration file
     ./demoCA                       - main CA directory
     ./demoCA/cacert.pem            - CA certificate
     ./demoCA/private/cakey.pem     - CA private key
     ./demoCA/serial                - CA serial number file
     ./demoCA/serial.old            - CA serial number backup file
     ./demoCA/index.txt             - CA text database file
     ./demoCA/index.txt.old         - CA text database backup file
     ./demoCA/certs                 - certificate output file
     ./demoCA/.rnd                  - CA random seed information

# ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

OPENSSL_CONF reflects the location of master configuration file it can be overridden by the -config command line option.

# RESTRICTIONS

The text database index file is a critical part of the process and if corrupted it can be difficult to fix. It is theoretically possible to rebuild the index file from all the issued certificates and a current CRL: however there is no option to do this.

V2 CRL features like delta CRLs are not currently supported.

Although several requests can be input and handled at once it is only possible to include one SPKAC or self-signed certificate.

# BUGS

The use of an in-memory text database can cause problems when large numbers of certificates are present because, as the name implies the database has to be kept in memory.

The ca command really needs rewriting or the required functionality exposed at either a command or interface level so a more friendly utility (perl script or GUI) can handle things properly. The script CA.pl helps a little but not very much.

Any fields in a request that are not present in a policy are silently deleted. This does not happen if the -preserveDN option is used. To enforce the absence of the EMAIL field within the DN, as suggested by RFCs, regardless the contents of the request' subject the -noemailDN option can be used. The behaviour should be more friendly and configurable.

Canceling some commands by refusing to certify a certificate can create an empty file.

# WARNINGS

The ca command is quirky and at times downright unfriendly.

The ca utility was originally meant as an example of how to do things in a CA. It was not supposed to be used as a full blown CA itself: nevertheless some people are using it for this purpose.

The ca command is effectively a single user command: no locking is done on the various files and attempts to run more than one ca command on the same database can have unpredictable results.

The copy_extensions option should be used with caution. If care is not taken then it can be a security risk. For example if a certificate request contains a basicConstraints extension with CA:TRUE and the copy_extensions value is set to copyall and the user does not spot this when the certificate is displayed then this will hand the requester a valid CA certificate.

This situation can be avoided by setting copy_extensions to copy and including basicConstraints with CA:FALSE in the configuration file. Then if the request contains a basicConstraints extension it will be ignored.

It is advisable to also include values for other extensions such as keyUsage to prevent a request supplying its own values.

Additional restrictions can be placed on the CA certificate itself. For example if the CA certificate has:

     basicConstraints = CA:TRUE, pathlen:0

then even if a certificate is issued with CA:TRUE it will not be valid.

# SEE ALSO

req(1), spkac(1), x509(1), CA.pl(1), config(5), x509v3_config(5)

# COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2000-2016 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.

Licensed under the GmSSL license (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.