1=pod 2 3=begin comment 4{- join("\n", @autowarntext) -} 5 6=end comment 7 8=head1 NAME 9 10openssl-pkey - public or private key processing command 11 12=head1 SYNOPSIS 13 14B<openssl> B<pkey> 15[B<-help>] 16{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_synopsis -}{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_synopsis -} 17[B<-check>] 18[B<-pubcheck>] 19[B<-in> I<filename>|I<uri>] 20[B<-inform> B<DER>|B<PEM>|B<P12>|B<ENGINE>] 21[B<-passin> I<arg>] 22[B<-pubin>] 23[B<-out> I<filename>] 24[B<-outform> B<DER>|B<PEM>] 25[B<-I<cipher>>] 26[B<-passout> I<arg>] 27[B<-traditional>] 28[B<-pubout>] 29[B<-noout>] 30[B<-text>] 31[B<-text_pub>] 32[B<-ec_conv_form> I<arg>] 33[B<-ec_param_enc> I<arg>] 34 35=head1 DESCRIPTION 36 37This command processes public or private keys. They can be 38converted between various forms and their components printed. 39 40=head1 OPTIONS 41 42=head2 General options 43 44=over 4 45 46=item B<-help> 47 48Print out a usage message. 49 50{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_item -} 51 52{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_item -} 53 54=item B<-check> 55 56This option checks the consistency of a key pair for both public and private 57components. 58 59=item B<-pubcheck> 60 61This option checks the correctness of either a public key 62or the public component of a key pair. 63 64=back 65 66=head2 Input options 67 68=over 4 69 70=item B<-in> I<filename>|I<uri> 71 72This specifies the input to read a key from 73or standard input if this option is not specified. 74If the key input is encrypted and B<-passin> is not given 75a pass phrase will be prompted for. 76 77=item B<-inform> B<DER>|B<PEM>|B<P12>|B<ENGINE> 78 79The key input format; unspecified by default. 80See L<openssl-format-options(1)> for details. 81 82=item B<-passin> I<arg> 83 84The password source for the key input. 85 86For more information about the format of B<arg> 87see L<openssl-passphrase-options(1)>. 88 89=item B<-pubin> 90 91By default a private key is read from the input. 92With this option a public key is read instead. 93If the input contains no public key but a private key, its public part is used. 94 95=back 96 97=head2 Output options 98 99=over 4 100 101=item B<-out> I<filename> 102 103This specifies the output filename to save the encoded and/or text output of key 104or standard output if this option is not specified. 105If any cipher option is set but no B<-passout> is given 106then a pass phrase will be prompted for. 107The output filename should B<not> be the same as the input filename. 108 109=item B<-outform> B<DER>|B<PEM> 110 111The key output format; the default is B<PEM>. 112See L<openssl-format-options(1)> for details. 113 114=item B<-I<cipher>> 115 116Encrypt the PEM encoded private key with the supplied cipher. Any algorithm 117name accepted by EVP_get_cipherbyname() is acceptable such as B<aes128>. 118Encryption is not supported for DER output. 119 120=item B<-passout> I<arg> 121 122The password source for the output file. 123 124For more information about the format of B<arg> 125see L<openssl-passphrase-options(1)>. 126 127=item B<-traditional> 128 129Normally a private key is written using standard format: this is PKCS#8 form 130with the appropriate encryption algorithm (if any). If the B<-traditional> 131option is specified then the older "traditional" format is used instead. 132 133=item B<-pubout> 134 135By default the private and public key is output; 136this option restricts the output to the public components. 137This option is automatically set if the input is a public key. 138 139When combined with B<-text>, this is equivalent to B<-text_pub>. 140 141=item B<-noout> 142 143Do not output the key in encoded form. 144 145=item B<-text> 146 147Output the various key components in plain text 148(possibly in addition to the PEM encoded form). 149This cannot be combined with encoded output in DER format. 150 151=item B<-text_pub> 152 153Output in text form only the public key components (also for private keys). 154This cannot be combined with encoded output in DER format. 155 156=item B<-ec_conv_form> I<arg> 157 158This option only applies to elliptic-curve based keys. 159 160This specifies how the points on the elliptic curve are converted 161into octet strings. Possible values are: B<compressed> (the default 162value), B<uncompressed> and B<hybrid>. For more information regarding 163the point conversion forms please read the X9.62 standard. 164B<Note> Due to patent issues the B<compressed> option is disabled 165by default for binary curves and can be enabled by defining 166the preprocessor macro B<OPENSSL_EC_BIN_PT_COMP> at compile time. 167 168=item B<-ec_param_enc> I<arg> 169 170This option only applies to elliptic curve based public and private keys. 171 172This specifies how the elliptic curve parameters are encoded. 173Possible value are: B<named_curve>, i.e. the ec parameters are 174specified by an OID, or B<explicit> where the ec parameters are 175explicitly given (see RFC 3279 for the definition of the 176EC parameters structures). The default value is B<named_curve>. 177B<Note> the B<implicitlyCA> alternative, as specified in RFC 3279, 178is currently not implemented in OpenSSL. 179 180=back 181 182=head1 EXAMPLES 183 184To remove the pass phrase on a private key: 185 186 openssl pkey -in key.pem -out keyout.pem 187 188To encrypt a private key using triple DES: 189 190 openssl pkey -in key.pem -des3 -out keyout.pem 191 192To convert a private key from PEM to DER format: 193 194 openssl pkey -in key.pem -outform DER -out keyout.der 195 196To print out the components of a private key to standard output: 197 198 openssl pkey -in key.pem -text -noout 199 200To print out the public components of a private key to standard output: 201 202 openssl pkey -in key.pem -text_pub -noout 203 204To just output the public part of a private key: 205 206 openssl pkey -in key.pem -pubout -out pubkey.pem 207 208To change the EC parameters encoding to B<explicit>: 209 210 openssl pkey -in key.pem -ec_param_enc explicit -out keyout.pem 211 212To change the EC point conversion form to B<compressed>: 213 214 openssl pkey -in key.pem -ec_conv_form compressed -out keyout.pem 215 216=head1 SEE ALSO 217 218L<openssl(1)>, 219L<openssl-genpkey(1)>, 220L<openssl-rsa(1)>, 221L<openssl-pkcs8(1)>, 222L<openssl-dsa(1)>, 223L<openssl-genrsa(1)>, 224L<openssl-gendsa(1)> 225 226=head1 HISTORY 227 228The B<-engine> option was deprecated in OpenSSL 3.0. 229 230=head1 COPYRIGHT 231 232Copyright 2006-2023 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved. 233 234Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use 235this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy 236in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at 237L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>. 238 239=cut 240
