doc/man1/openssl-ec.pod.in

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