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1=pod
2
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3=begin comment
4{- join("\n", @autowarntext) -}
5
6=end comment
7
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8=head1 NAME
9
b6b66573 10openssl-ec - EC key processing
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11
12=head1 SYNOPSIS
13
14B<openssl> B<ec>
169394d4 15[B<-help>]
6d382c74 16[B<-inform> B<DER>|B<PEM>|B<P12>|B<ENGINE>]
e8769719 17[B<-outform> B<DER>|B<PEM>]
f91d003a 18[B<-in> I<filename>|I<uri>]
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19[B<-passin> I<arg>]
20[B<-out> I<filename>]
21[B<-passout> I<arg>]
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22[B<-des>]
23[B<-des3>]
24[B<-idea>]
25[B<-text>]
26[B<-noout>]
27[B<-param_out>]
28[B<-pubin>]
29[B<-pubout>]
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30[B<-conv_form> I<arg>]
31[B<-param_enc> I<arg>]
16754806 32[B<-no_public>]
7565cbc4 33[B<-check>]
d55e4487 34{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_synopsis -}{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_synopsis -}
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35
36=head1 DESCRIPTION
37
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38The L<openssl-ec(1)> command processes EC keys. They can be converted between
39various forms and their components printed out. B<Note> OpenSSL uses the
2c789c82 40private key format specified in 'SEC 1: Elliptic Curve Cryptography'
35ed393e 41(http://www.secg.org/). To convert an OpenSSL EC private key into the
35a810bb 42PKCS#8 private key format use the L<openssl-pkcs8(1)> command.
2c789c82 43
3dfda1a6 44=head1 OPTIONS
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45
46=over 4
47
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48=item B<-help>
49
50Print out a usage message.
51
6d382c74 52=item B<-inform> B<DER>|B<PEM>|B<P12>|B<ENGINE>
2c789c82 53
bee3f389 54The key input format; unspecified by default.
46949153 55See L<openssl-format-options(1)> for details.
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56
57=item B<-outform> B<DER>|B<PEM>
58
bee3f389 59The key output format; the default is B<PEM>.
46949153 60See L<openssl-format-options(1)> for details.
2c789c82 61
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62Private keys are an SEC1 private key or PKCS#8 format.
63Public keys are a B<SubjectPublicKeyInfo> as specified in IETF RFC 3280.
2c789c82 64
f91d003a 65=item B<-in> I<filename>|I<uri>
2c789c82 66
f91d003a 67This specifies the input to read a key from or standard input if this
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68option is not specified. If the key is encrypted a pass phrase will be
69prompted for.
70
e8769719 71=item B<-out> I<filename>
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72
73This specifies the output filename to write a key to or standard output by
74is not specified. If any encryption options are set then a pass phrase will be
75prompted for. The output filename should B<not> be the same as the input
76filename.
77
3a4e43de 78=item B<-passin> I<arg>, B<-passout> I<arg>
2c789c82 79
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80The password source for the input and output file.
81For more information about the format of B<arg>
46949153 82see L<openssl-passphrase-options(1)>.
2c789c82 83
e8769719 84=item B<-des>|B<-des3>|B<-idea>
2c789c82 85
1bc74519 86These options encrypt the private key with the DES, triple DES, IDEA or
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87any other cipher supported by OpenSSL before outputting it. A pass phrase is
88prompted for.
89If none of these options is specified the key is written in plain text. This
35a810bb 90means that using this command to read in an encrypted key with no
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91encryption option can be used to remove the pass phrase from a key, or by
92setting the encryption options it can be use to add or change the pass phrase.
93These options can only be used with PEM format output files.
94
95=item B<-text>
96
c4de074e 97Prints out the public, private key components and parameters.
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98
99=item B<-noout>
100
c4de074e 101This option prevents output of the encoded version of the key.
2c789c82 102
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103=item B<-param_out>
104
105Print the elliptic curve parameters.
106
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107=item B<-pubin>
108
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109By default a private key is read from the input.
110With this option a public key is read instead.
111If the input contains no public key but a private key, its public part is used.
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112
113=item B<-pubout>
114
c4de074e 115By default a private key is output. With this option a public
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116key will be output instead. This option is automatically set if the input is
117a public key.
118
2f0ea936 119=item B<-conv_form> I<arg>
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120
121This specifies how the points on the elliptic curve are converted
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122into octet strings. Possible values are: B<compressed>, B<uncompressed> (the
123default value) and B<hybrid>. For more information regarding
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124the point conversion forms please read the X9.62 standard.
125B<Note> Due to patent issues the B<compressed> option is disabled
126by default for binary curves and can be enabled by defining
127the preprocessor macro B<OPENSSL_EC_BIN_PT_COMP> at compile time.
128
e8769719 129=item B<-param_enc> I<arg>
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130
131This specifies how the elliptic curve parameters are encoded.
132Possible value are: B<named_curve>, i.e. the ec parameters are
35ed393e 133specified by an OID, or B<explicit> where the ec parameters are
1bc74519 134explicitly given (see RFC 3279 for the definition of the
2c789c82 135EC parameters structures). The default value is B<named_curve>.
aebb9aac 136B<Note> the B<implicitlyCA> alternative, as specified in RFC 3279,
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137is currently not implemented in OpenSSL.
138
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139=item B<-no_public>
140
141This option omits the public key components from the private key output.
142
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143=item B<-check>
144
c4de074e 145This option checks the consistency of an EC private or public key.
7565cbc4 146
018aaeb4 147{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_item -}
2c789c82 148
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149{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_item -}
150
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151=back
152
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153The L<openssl-pkey(1)> command is capable of performing all the operations
154this command can, as well as supporting other public key types.
155
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156=head1 EXAMPLES
157
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158The documentation for the L<openssl-pkey(1)> command contains examples
159equivalent to the ones listed here.
35eb4588 160
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161To encrypt a private key using triple DES:
162
163 openssl ec -in key.pem -des3 -out keyout.pem
164
1bc74519 165To convert a private key from PEM to DER format:
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166
167 openssl ec -in key.pem -outform DER -out keyout.der
168
169To print out the components of a private key to standard output:
170
171 openssl ec -in key.pem -text -noout
172
173To just output the public part of a private key:
174
175 openssl ec -in key.pem -pubout -out pubkey.pem
176
177To change the parameters encoding to B<explicit>:
178
179 openssl ec -in key.pem -param_enc explicit -out keyout.pem
180
181To change the point conversion form to B<compressed>:
182
183 openssl ec -in key.pem -conv_form compressed -out keyout.pem
184
185=head1 SEE ALSO
186
b6b66573 187L<openssl(1)>,
d1eec097 188L<openssl-pkey(1)>,
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189L<openssl-ecparam(1)>,
190L<openssl-dsa(1)>,
191L<openssl-rsa(1)>
2c789c82 192
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193=head1 HISTORY
194
195The B<-engine> option was deprecated in OpenSSL 3.0.
196
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197The B<-conv_form> and B<-no_public> options are no longer supported
198with keys loaded from an engine in OpenSSL 3.0.
199
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200=head1 COPYRIGHT
201
da1c088f 202Copyright 2003-2023 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
e2f92610 203
449040b4 204Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
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205this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
206in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
207L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.
208
209=cut