gnupg: CSR and certificate creation
5.5.2 CSR and certificate creation
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The command '--generate-key' may be used along with the option '--batch'
to either create a certificate signing request (CSR) or an X.509
certificate. This is controlled by a parameter file; the format of this
file is as follows:
* Text only, line length is limited to about 1000 characters.
* UTF-8 encoding must be used to specify non-ASCII characters.
* Empty lines are ignored.
* Leading and trailing while space is ignored.
* A hash sign as the first non white space character indicates a
comment line.
* Control statements are indicated by a leading percent sign, the
arguments are separated by white space from the keyword.
* Parameters are specified by a keyword, followed by a colon.
Arguments are separated by white space.
* The first parameter must be 'Key-Type', control statements may be
placed anywhere.
* The order of the parameters does not matter except for 'Key-Type'
which must be the first parameter. The parameters are only used
for the generated CSR/certificate; parameters from previous sets
are not used. Some syntactically checks may be performed.
* Key generation takes place when either the end of the parameter
file is reached, the next 'Key-Type' parameter is encountered or at
the control statement '%commit' is encountered.
Control statements:
%echo TEXT
Print TEXT as diagnostic.
%dry-run
Suppress actual key generation (useful for syntax checking).
%commit
Perform the key generation. Note that an implicit commit is done
at the next Key-Type parameter.
General Parameters:
Key-Type: ALGO
Starts a new parameter block by giving the type of the primary key.
The algorithm must be capable of signing. This is a required
parameter. The only supported value for ALGO is 'rsa'.
Key-Length: NBITS
The requested length of a generated key in bits. Defaults to 3072.
Key-Grip: HEXSTRING
This is optional and used to generate a CSR or certificate for an
already existing key. Key-Length will be ignored when given.
Key-Usage: USAGE-LIST
Space or comma delimited list of key usage, allowed values are
'encrypt', 'sign' and 'cert'. This is used to generate the
keyUsage extension. Please make sure that the algorithm is capable
of this usage. Default is to allow encrypt and sign.
Name-DN: SUBJECT-NAME
This is the Distinguished Name (DN) of the subject in RFC-2253
format.
Name-Email: STRING
This is an email address for the altSubjectName. This parameter is
optional but may occur several times to add several email addresses
to a certificate.
Name-DNS: STRING
The is an DNS name for the altSubjectName. This parameter is
optional but may occur several times to add several DNS names to a
certificate.
Name-URI: STRING
This is an URI for the altSubjectName. This parameter is optional
but may occur several times to add several URIs to a certificate.
Additional parameters used to create a certificate (in contrast to a
certificate signing request):
Serial: SN
If this parameter is given an X.509 certificate will be generated.
SN is expected to be a hex string representing an unsigned integer
of arbitrary length. The special value 'random' can be used to
create a 64 bit random serial number.
Issuer-DN: ISSUER-NAME
This is the DN name of the issuer in RFC-2253 format. If it is not
set it will default to the subject DN and a special GnuPG extension
will be included in the certificate to mark it as a standalone
certificate.
Creation-Date: ISO-DATE
Not-Before: ISO-DATE
Set the notBefore date of the certificate. Either a date like
'1986-04-26' or '1986-04-26 12:00' or a standard ISO timestamp like
'19860426T042640' may be used. The time is considered to be UTC.
If it is not given the current date is used.
Expire-Date: ISO-DATE
Not-After: ISO-DATE
Set the notAfter date of the certificate. Either a date like
'2063-04-05' or '2063-04-05 17:00' or a standard ISO timestamp like
'20630405T170000' may be used. The time is considered to be UTC.
If it is not given a default value in the not too far future is
used.
Signing-Key: KEYGRIP
This gives the keygrip of the key used to sign the certificate. If
it is not given a self-signed certificate will be created. For
compatibility with future versions, it is suggested to prefix the
keygrip with a '&'.
Hash-Algo: HASH-ALGO
Use HASH-ALGO for this CSR or certificate. The supported hash
algorithms are: 'sha1', 'sha256', 'sha384' and 'sha512'; they may
also be specified with uppercase letters. The default is 'sha256'.
Info Catalog
gnupg: Automated signature checking
gnupg: Unattended Usage