-inform DER|PEM
This specifies the input format. The DER option uses an ASN1 DER encoded form compatible with the PKCS#10. The PEM form is the default format: it consists of the DER format base64 encoded with additional header and footer lines.
-outform DER|PEM
This specifies the output format, the options have the same meaning as the -inform option.
-in filename
This specifies the input filename to read a request from or standard input if this option is not specified. A request is only read if the creation options ( -new and -newkey) are not specified.
-passin arg
the input file password source. For more information about the format of arg see the PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS section in openssl(1).
-out filename
This specifies the output filename to write to or standard output by default.
-passout arg
the output file password source. For more information about the format of arg see the PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS section in openssl(1).
-text
prints out the certificate request in text form.
-subject
prints out the request subject (or certificate subject if -x509 is specified)
-pubkey
outputs the public key.
-noout
this option prevents output of the encoded version of the request.
-modulus
this option prints out the value of the modulus of the public key contained in the request.
-verify
verifies the signature on the request.
-new
this option generates a new certificate request. It will prompt the user for the relevant field values. The actual fields prompted for and their maximum and minimum sizes are specified in the configuration file and any requested extensions.
If the
-key option is not used it will generate a new RSA private key using information specified in the configuration file.
-subj arg
Replaces subject field of input request with specified data and outputs modified request. The arg must be formatted as /type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=..., characters may be escaped by \ (backslash), no spaces are skipped.
-rand file(s)
a file or files containing random data used to seed the random number generator, or an EGD socket (see RAND_egd(3)). Multiple files can be specified separated by a OS-dependent character. The separator is ; for MS-Windows, , for OpenVMS, and : for all others.
-newkey arg
this option creates a new certificate request and a new private key. The argument takes one of several forms.
rsa:nbits, where nbits is the number of bits, generates an RSA key nbits in size. If nbits is omitted, i.e. -newkey rsa specified, the default key size, specified in the configuration file is used.
All other algorithms support the
-newkey alg:file form, where file may be an algorithm parameter file, created by the genpkey -genparam command or and X.509 certificate for a key with approriate algorithm.
param:file generates a key using the parameter file or certificate file, the algorithm is determined by the parameters. algname:file use algorithm algname and parameter file file: the two algorithms must match or an error occurs. algname just uses algorithm algname, and parameters, if neccessary should be specified via -pkeyopt parameter.
dsa:filename generates a DSA key using the parameters in the file filename. ec:filename generates EC key (usable both with ECDSA or ECDH algorithms), gost2001:filename generates GOST R 34.10-2001 key (requires ccgost engine configured in the configuration file). If just gost2001 is specified a parameter set should be specified by -pkeyopt paramset:X
-pkeyopt opt:value
set the public key algorithm option opt to value. The precise set of options supported depends on the public key algorithm used and its implementation. See KEY GENERATION OPTIONS in the genpkey manual page for more details.
-key filename
This specifies the file to read the private key from. It also accepts PKCS#8 format private keys for PEM format files.
-keyform PEM|DER
the format of the private key file specified in the -key argument. PEM is the default.
-keyout filename
this gives the filename to write the newly created private key to. If this option is not specified then the filename present in the configuration file is used.
-nodes
if this option is specified then if a private key is created it will not be encrypted.
-[digest]
this specifies the message digest to sign the request with (such as
-md5, -sha1). This overrides the digest algorithm specified in the configuration file.
Some public key algorithms may override this choice. For instance, DSA signatures always use SHA1, GOST R 34.10 signatures always use GOST R 34.11-94 (
-md_gost94).
-config filename
this allows an alternative configuration file to be specified, this overrides the compile time filename or any specified in the OPENSSL_CONF environment variable.
-subj arg
sets subject name for new request or supersedes the subject name when processing a request. The arg must be formatted as /type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=..., characters may be escaped by \ (backslash), no spaces are skipped.
-multivalue-rdn
this option causes the -subj argument to be interpreted with full support for multivalued RDNs. Example:
/DC=org/DC=OpenSSL/DC=users/UID=123456+CN=John Doe
If -multi-rdn is not used then the UID value is
123456+CN=John Doe.
-x509
this option outputs a self signed certificate instead of a certificate request. This is typically used to generate a test certificate or a self signed root CA. The extensions added to the certificate (if any) are specified in the configuration file. Unless specified using the set_serial option 0 will be used for the serial number.
-days n
when the -x509 option is being used this specifies the number of days to certify the certificate for. The default is 30 days.
-set_serial n
serial number to use when outputting a self signed certificate. This may be specified as a decimal value or a hex value if preceded by 0x. It is possible to use negative serial numbers but this is not recommended.
-reqexts section
these options specify alternative sections to include certificate extensions (if the -x509 option is present) or certificate request extensions. This allows several different sections to be used in the same configuration file to specify requests for a variety of purposes.
-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.
-nameopt option
option which determines how the subject or issuer names are displayed. The option argument can be a single option or multiple options separated by commas. Alternatively the -nameopt switch may be used more than once to set multiple options. See the openssl_x509(1) manual page for details.
-reqopt
customise the output format used with
-text. The option argument can be a single option or multiple options separated by commas.
See discission of the
-certopt parameter in the x509 command.
-asn1-kludge
by default the
req command outputs certificate requests containing no attributes in the correct PKCS#10 format. However certain CAs will only accept requests containing no attributes in an invalid form: this option produces this invalid format.
More precisely the
Attributes in a PKCS#10 certificate request are defined as a SET OF Attribute. They are not OPTIONAL so if no attributes are present then they should be encoded as an empty SET OF. The invalid form does not include the empty SET OF whereas the correct form does.
It should be noted that very few CAs still require the use of this option.
-no-asn1-kludge
Reverses effect of -asn1-kludge
-newhdr
Adds the word NEW to the PEM file header and footer lines on the outputed request. Some software (Netscape certificate server) and some CAs need this.
-batch
non-interactive mode.
-verbose
print extra details about the operations being performed.
-engine id
specifying an engine (by its unique id string) will cause req 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.
-keygen_engine id
specifies an engine (by its unique id string) which would be used for key generation operations.