# phpman > man > openssl-ca(1)

[OPENSSL-CA(1SSL)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/OPENSSL-CA/1SSL/markdown)                               OpenSSL                              [OPENSSL-CA(1SSL)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/OPENSSL-CA/1SSL/markdown)



## NAME
       openssl-ca - sample minimal CA application

## SYNOPSIS
       **openssl** **ca** [**-help**] [**-verbose**] [**-config** _filename_] [**-name** _section_] [**-section** _section_] [**-gencrl**]
       [**-revoke** _file_] [**-valid** _file_] [**-status** _serial_] [**-updatedb**] [**-crl**___**reason** _reason_] [**-crl**___**hold**
       _instruction_] [**-crl**___**compromise** _time_] [**-crl**___**CA**___**compromise** _time_] [**-crl**___**lastupdate** _date_]
       [**-crl**___**nextupdate** _date_] [**-crldays** _days_] [**-crlhours** _hours_] [**-crlsec** _seconds_] [**-crlexts** _section_]
       [**-startdate** _date_] [**-enddate** _date_] [**-days** _arg_] [**-md** _arg_] [**-policy** _arg_] [**-keyfile** _filename_|_uri_]
       [**-keyform** **DER**|**PEM**|**P12**|**ENGINE**] [**-key** _arg_] [**-passin** _arg_] [**-cert** _file_] [**-certform** **DER**|**PEM**|**P12**]
       [**-selfsign**] [**-in** _file_] [**-inform** **DER**|<PEM>] [**-out** _file_] [**-notext**] [**-dateopt**] [**-outdir** _dir_]
       [**-infiles**] [**-spkac** _file_] [**-ss**___**cert** _file_] [**-preserveDN**] [**-noemailDN**] [**-batch**] [**-msie**___**hack**]
       [**-extensions** _section_] [**-extfile** _section_] [**-subj** _arg_] [**-utf8**] [**-sigopt** _nm_:_v_] [**-vfyopt** _nm_:_v_]
       [**-create**___**serial**] [**-rand**___**serial**] [**-multivalue-rdn**] [**-rand** _files_] [**-writerand** _file_] [**-engine**
       _id_] [**-provider** _name_] [**-provider-path** _path_] [**-propquery** _propq_] [_certreq_...]

## DESCRIPTION
       This command emulates a CA application.  See the **WARNINGS** especially when considering to use
       it productively.  It can be used to sign certificate requests (CSRs) in a variety of forms
       and generate certificate revocation lists (CRLs).  It also maintains a text database of
       issued certificates and their status.  When signing certificates, a single request can be
       specified with the **-in** option, or multiple requests can be processed by specifying a set of
       **certreq** files after all options.

       Note that there are also very lean ways of generating certificates: the **req** and **x509** commands
       can be used for directly creating certificates.  See [**openssl-req**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-req/1/markdown) and [**openssl-x509**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-x509/1/markdown) for
       details.

       The descriptions of the **ca** command options are divided into each purpose.

## OPTIONS
### -help
           Print out a usage message.

### -verbose
           This prints extra details about the operations being performed.

### -config
           Specifies the configuration file to use.  Optional; for a description of the default
           value, see "COMMAND SUMMARY" in [**openssl**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl/1/markdown).

### -name -section
           Specifies the configuration file section to use (overrides **default**___**ca** in the **ca** section).

### -in
           An input filename containing a single certificate request (CSR) to be signed by the CA.

### -inform
           The format of the data in certificate request input files; unspecified by default.  See
           [**openssl-format-options**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-format-options/1/markdown) for details.

### -ss
           A single self-signed certificate to be signed by the CA.

### -spkac
           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.

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

### -out
           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).

### -outdir
           The directory to output certificates to. The certificate will be written to a filename
           consisting of the serial number in hex with _.pem_ appended.

### -cert
           The CA certificate, which must match with **-keyfile**.

### -certform
           The format of the data in certificate input files; unspecified by default.  See
           [**openssl-format-options**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-format-options/1/markdown) for details.

### -keyfile
           The CA private key to sign certificate requests with.  This must match with **-cert**.

### -keyform
           The format of the private key input file; unspecified by default.  See
           [**openssl-format-options**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-format-options/1/markdown) for details.

### -sigopt
           Pass options to the signature algorithm during sign operations.  Names and values of
           these options are algorithm-specific.

### -vfyopt
           Pass options to the signature algorithm during verify operations.  Names and values of
           these options are algorithm-specific.

           This often needs to be given while signing too, because the self-signature of a
           certificate signing request (CSR) is verified against the included public key, and that
           verification may need its own set of options.

### -key
           The password used to encrypt the private key. Since on some systems the command line
           arguments are visible (e.g., when using [**ps**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ps/1/markdown) on Unix), this option should be used with
           caution.  Better use **-passin**.

### -passin
           The key password source for key files and certificate PKCS#12 files.  For more
           information about the format of **arg** see [**openssl-passphrase-options**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-passphrase-options/1/markdown).

### -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.

### -notext
           Don't output the text form of a certificate to the output file.

### -dateopt
           Specify the date output format. Values are: rfc_822 and iso_8601.  Defaults to rfc_822.

### -startdate
           This allows the start date to be explicitly set. The format of the date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ
           (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure), or YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1
           GeneralizedTime structure). In both formats, seconds SS and timezone Z must be present.

### -enddate
           This allows the expiry date to be explicitly set. The format of the date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ
           (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure), or YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1
           GeneralizedTime structure). In both formats, seconds SS and timezone Z must be present.

### -days
           The number of days to certify the certificate for.

### -md
           The message digest to use.  Any digest supported by the [**openssl-dgst**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-dgst/1/markdown) command can be
           used. For signing algorithms that do not support a digest (i.e. Ed25519 and Ed448) any
           message digest that is set is ignored. This option also applies to CRLs.

### -policy
           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.

### -msie
           This is a deprecated option to make this command 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.

### -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.

### -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.

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

### -extensions
           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 X.509 extensions are specified then a V1 certificate is created, else a V3
           certificate is created.  See the **x509v3**___**[config**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/config/5/markdown) manual page for details of the
           extension section format.

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

### -subj
           Supersedes subject name given in the request.

           The arg must be formatted as "/type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=...".  Special characters
           may be escaped by "\" (backslash), whitespace is retained.  Empty values are permitted,
           but the corresponding type will not be included in the resulting certificate.  Giving a
           single "/" will lead to an empty sequence of RDNs (a NULL-DN).  Multi-valued RDNs can be
           formed by placing a "+" character instead of a "/" between the AttributeValueAssertions
           (AVAs) that specify the members of the set.  Example:

           "/DC=org/DC=OpenSSL/DC=users/UID=123456+CN=John Doe"

### -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.

### -create
           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.  To get random
           serial numbers, use the **-rand**___**serial** flag instead; this should only be used for simple
           error-recovery.

### -rand
           Generate a large random number to use as the serial number.  This overrides any option or
           configuration to use a serial number file.

### -multivalue-rdn
           This option has been deprecated and has no effect.

### -rand -writerand
           See "Random State Options" in [**openssl**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl/1/markdown) for details.

### -engine
           See "Engine Options" in [**openssl**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl/1/markdown).  This option is deprecated.

### -provider
### -provider-path
### -propquery
           See "Provider Options" in [**openssl**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl/1/markdown), [**provider**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/provider/7/markdown), and [**property**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/property/7/markdown).

## CRL OPTIONS
### -gencrl
           This option generates a CRL based on information in the index file.

### -crl
           Allows the value of the CRL's lastUpdate field to be explicitly set; if this option is
           not present, the current time is used. Accepts times in YYMMDDHHMMSSZ format (the same as
           an ASN1 UTCTime structure) or YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ format (the same as an ASN1 GeneralizedTime
           structure).

### -crl
           Allows the value of the CRL's nextUpdate field to be explicitly set; if this option is
           present, any values given for **-crldays**, **-crlhours** and **-crlsec** are ignored. Accepts times
           in the same formats as **-crl**___**lastupdate**.

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

### -crlhours
           The number of hours before the next CRL is due.

### -crlsec
           The number of seconds before the next CRL is due.

### -revoke
           A filename containing a certificate to revoke.

### -valid
           A filename containing a certificate to add a Valid certificate entry.

### -status
           Displays the revocation status of the certificate with the specified serial number and
           exits.

### -updatedb
           Updates the database index to purge expired certificates.

### -crl
           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.

### -crl
           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.

### -crl
           This sets the revocation reason to **keyCompromise** and the compromise time to _time_. _time_
           should be in GeneralizedTime format that is _YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ_.

### -crl
           This is the same as **crl**___**compromise** except the revocation reason is set to **CACompromise**.

### -crlexts
           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)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/config/5/markdown) manual page for details of
           the extension section format.

## CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS
       The section of the configuration file containing options for this command 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.

       **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 whitespace then
           the short name followed by whitespace and finally the long name.

       **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.

       **new**___**certs**___**dir**
           The same as the **-outdir** command line option. It specifies the directory where new
           certificates will be placed. Mandatory.

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

       **private**___**key**
           Same as the **-keyfile** option. The file containing the CA private key. Mandatory.

       **RANDFILE**
           At startup the specified file is loaded into the random number generator, and at exit 256
           bytes will be written to it. (Note: Using a RANDFILE is not necessary anymore, see the
           "HISTORY" section.

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

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

       **default**___**enddate**
           The same as the **-enddate** option. Either this option or **default**___**days** (or the command line
           equivalents) must be present.

       **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.

       **default**___**md**
           The same as the **-md** option. Mandatory except where the signing algorithm does not require
           a digest (i.e. Ed25519 and Ed448).

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

       **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 OpenSSL.  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.

           Note that it is valid in some circumstances for certificates to be created without any
           subject. In the case where there are multiple certificates without subjects this does not
           count as a duplicate.

### 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.

### 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.

       **x509**___**extensions**
           A fallback to the **-extensions** option.

       **crl**___**extensions**
           A fallback to the **-crlexts** option.

### preserve
           The same as **-preserveDN**

       **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
           filed in the certificate's DN.

       **msie**___**hack**
           The same as **-msie**___**hack**

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

       **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 OpenSSL 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.

       **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.

## 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

## 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 [**openssl-spkac**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-spkac/1/markdown).

       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 directory structure this command assumes is already set
       up and the relevant files already exist. This usually involves creating a CA certificate and
       private key with [**openssl-req**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-req/1/markdown), 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:

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

       Sign an SM2 certificate request:

        openssl ca -in sm2.csr -out sm2.crt -md sm3 \
                -sigopt "distid:1234567812345678" \
                -vfyopt "distid:1234567812345678"

       Sign a certificate request, using CA extensions:

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

       Generate a CRL

        openssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem

       Sign several requests:

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

       Certify a Netscape SPKAC:

        openssl ca -spkac spkac.txt

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

        SPKAC=MIG0MGAwXDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAANLADBIAkEAn7PDhCeV/xIxUg8V70YRxK2A5
        CN=Steve Test
        emailAddress=<steve@openssl.org>
        0.OU=OpenSSL Group
        1.OU=Another Group

       A sample configuration file with the relevant sections for this command:

        [ 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
        #rand_serial    = yes                  # for random serial#'s
        private_key    = $dir/private/cakey.pem# CA private key

        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

## 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
       This command is quirky and at times downright unfriendly.

       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.

       This command really needs rewriting or the required functionality exposed at either a command
       or interface level so that a more user-friendly replacement could 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
       This command was originally meant as an example of how to do things in a CA.  Its code does
       not have production quality.  It was not supposed to be used as a full blown CA itself,
       nevertheless some people are using it for this purpose at least internally.  When doing so,
       specific care should be taken to properly secure the private key(s) used for signing
       certificates.  It is advisable to keep them in a secure HW storage such as a smart card or
       HSM and access them via a suitable engine or crypto provider.

       This command command is effectively a single user command: no locking is done on the various
       files and attempts to run more than one **openssl** **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.

## HISTORY
       Since OpenSSL 1.1.1, the program follows RFC5280. Specifically, certificate validity period
       (specified by any of **-startdate**, **-enddate** and **-days**) and CRL last/next update time (specified
       by any of **-crl**___**lastupdate**, **-crl**___**nextupdate**, **-crldays**, **-crlhours** and **-crlsec**) will be encoded
       as UTCTime if the dates are earlier than year 2049 (included), and as GeneralizedTime if the
       dates are in year 2050 or later.

       OpenSSL 1.1.1 introduced a new random generator (CSPRNG) with an improved seeding mechanism.
       The new seeding mechanism makes it unnecessary to define a RANDFILE for saving and restoring
       randomness. This option is retained mainly for compatibility reasons.

       The **-section** option was added in OpenSSL 3.0.0.

       The **-multivalue-rdn** option has become obsolete in OpenSSL 3.0.0 and has no effect.

       The **-engine** option was deprecated in OpenSSL 3.0.

## SEE ALSO
       [**openssl**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl/1/markdown), [**openssl-req**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-req/1/markdown), [**openssl-spkac**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-spkac/1/markdown), [**openssl-x509**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-x509/1/markdown), [**CA.pl**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/CA.pl/1/markdown), [**config**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/config/5/markdown),
       **x509v3**___**[config**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/config/5/markdown)

## COPYRIGHT
       Copyright 2000-2021 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>>.



3.0.2                                        2026-06-02                             [OPENSSL-CA(1SSL)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/OPENSSL-CA/1SSL/markdown)
