1=pod
2
3=head1 NAME
4
5openssl-passphrase-options - Pass phrase options
6
7=head1 SYNOPSIS
8
9B<openssl>
10I<command>
11[ I<options> ... ]
12[ I<parameters> ... ]
13
14=head1 DESCRIPTION
15
16Several OpenSSL commands accept password arguments, typically using B<-passin>
17and B<-passout> for input and output passwords respectively. These allow
18the password to be obtained from a variety of sources. Both of these
19options take a single argument whose format is described below. If no
20password argument is given and a password is required then the user is
21prompted to enter one: this will typically be read from the current
22terminal with echoing turned off.
23
24Note that character encoding may be relevant, please see
25L<passphrase-encoding(7)>.
26
27=head1 OPTIONS
28
29=head2 Pass Phrase Option Arguments
30
31Pass phrase arguments can be formatted as follows.
32
33=over 4
34
35=item B<pass:>I<password>
36
37The actual password is I<password>. Since the password is visible
38to utilities (like 'ps' under Unix) this form should only be used
39where security is not important.
40
41=item B<env:>I<var>
42
43Obtain the password from the environment variable I<var>. Since
44the environment of other processes is visible on certain platforms
45(e.g. ps under certain Unix OSes) this option should be used with caution.
46
47=item B<file:>I<pathname>
48
49Reads the password from the specified file I<pathname>, which can be a regular
50file, device, or named pipe. Only the first line, up to the newline character,
51is read from the stream.
52
53If the same I<pathname> argument is supplied to both B<-passin> and B<-passout>
54arguments, the first line will be used for the input password, and the next
55line will be used for the output password.
56
57=item B<fd:>I<number>
58
59Reads the password from the file descriptor I<number>. This can be useful for
60sending data via a pipe, for example. The same line handling as described for
61B<file:> applies to passwords read from file descriptors.
62
63B<fd:> is not supported on Windows.
64
65=item B<stdin>
66
67Reads the password from standard input. The same line handling as described for
68B<file:> applies to passwords read from standard input.
69
70=back
71
72=head1 COPYRIGHT
73
74Copyright 2000-2024 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
75
76Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License").  You may not use
77this file except in compliance with the License.  You can obtain a copy
78in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
79L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.
80
81=cut
82