sscg(8)

SSCG(8) System Administration Utilities SSCG(8)

NAME

sscg - Tool for generating x.509 certificates

SYNOPSIS

sscg [OPTION...]

DESCRIPTION

-V, --version
Display the version number and exit.
-f, --force
Overwrite any pre-existing files in the requested locations. DANGER: You probably don't want to use this!

Help options:

-?, --help
Show this help message
--usage
Display brief usage message

Verbosity options

-q, --quiet
Display no output unless there is an error.
-v, --verbose
Display progress messages.
-d, --debug
Enable logging of debug messages. Implies verbose. Warning! This will print private key information to the screen!

Certificate Subject options

--lifetime=1-3650
Certificate lifetime (days). (default: 398)
--country=US, CZ, etc.
Certificate DN: Country (C). (default: "US")
--state=Massachusetts, British Columbia, etc.
Certificate DN: State or Province (ST).
--locality=Westford, Paris, etc.
Certificate DN: Locality (L).
--organization=My Company
Certificate DN: Organization (O). (default: "Unspecified")
--organizational-unit=Engineering, etc.
Certificate DN: Organizational Unit (OU).
--email=myname@example.com
Certificate DN: Email Address (Email).
--hostname=server.example.com
The valid hostname of the certificate. Must be an FQDN. (default: current system FQDN)
--subject-alt-name alt.example.com
Optional additional valid hostnames for the certificate. In addition to hostnames, this option also accepts explicit values supported by RFC 5280 such as IP:xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx May be specified multiple times.

Certificate Key Cryptography Options

--key-type={rsa,ecdsa,mldsa}
Type of key to use for the certificate private keys. (default: rsa)
--key-strength=2048 or larger
Strength of the certificate private keys in bits. This argument is only valid if --key-type is set to rsa. (default: 2048)
--ec-curve={secp224r1,secp256r1,secp384r1,secp521r1}
EC curve to use for the certificate private keys. This argument is only valid if --key-type is set to ecdsa.
--mldsa-nist-level={2,3,5}
NIST level to use for the ML-DSA key. This argument is only valid if --key-type is set to mldsa. (default: 2)
--hash-alg={sha256,sha384,sha512}
Hashing algorithm to use for signing RSA and ECDSA keys. This argument is only valid if --key-type is rsa or ecdsa. (default: "sha256")
--cipher-alg={des-ede3-cbc,aes-256-cbc}
Cipher to use for encrypting key files. (default: "aes-256-cbc")

Certificate Authority File Options

--ca-file=STRING
Path where the public CA certificate will be stored. (default: "./ca.crt")
--ca-mode=0644
File mode of the created CA certificate.
--ca-key-file=STRING
Path where the CA's private key will be stored. If unspecified, the key will be destroyed rather than written to the disk.
--ca-key-mode=0600
File mode of the created CA key.
--ca-key-password=STRING
Provide a password for the CA key file. Note that this will be visible in the process table for all users, so it should be used for testing purposes only. Use --ca-keypassfile or --ca-key-password-prompt for secure password entry.
--ca-key-passfile=STRING
A file containing the password to encrypt the CA key file.
-C, --ca-key-password-prompt
Prompt to enter a password for the CA key file.

Certificate Revocation List File Options

--crl-file=STRING
Path where an (empty) Certificate Revocation List file will be created, for applications that expect such a file to exist. If unspecified, no such file will be created.
--crl-mode=0644
File mode of the created Certificate Revocation List.

Service Certificate File Options

--cert-file=STRING
Path where the public service certificate will be stored. (default "./service.pem")
--cert-mode=0644
File mode of the created certificate.
--cert-key-file=STRING
Path where the service's private key will be stored. (default "service-key.pem")
--cert-key-mode=0600
File mode of the created certificate key.
-p, --cert-key-password=STRING
Provide a password for the service key file. Note that this will be visible in the process table for all users, so this flag should be used for testing purposes only. Use --cert-keypassfile or --cert-key-password-prompt for secure password entry.
--cert-key-passfile=STRING
A file containing the password to encrypt the service key file.
-P, --cert-key-password-prompt
Prompt to enter a password for the service key file.

Client Authentication Certificate File Options

--client-file=STRING
Path where a client authentication certificate will be stored.
--client-mode=0644
File mode of the created certificate.
--client-key-file=STRING
Path where the client's private key will be stored. (default is the client-file)
--client-key-mode=0600
File mode of the created certificate key.
--client-key-password=STRING
Provide a password for the client key file. Note that this will be visible in the process table for all users, so this flag should be used for testing purposes only. Use --client-keypassfile or --client-key-password-prompt for secure password entry.
--client-key-passfile=STRING
A file containing the password to encrypt the client key file.
--client-key-password-prompt
Prompt to enter a password for the client key file.

Diffie-Hellman Parameter File Options

--dhparams-file=STRING
A file to contain a set of Diffie-Hellman parameters. (Default: not created)
--dhparams-named-group=STRING
Output well-known DH parameters. The available named groups are: ffdhe2048, ffdhe3072, ffdhe4096, ffdhe6144, ffdhe8192, modp_2048, modp_3072, modp_4096, modp_6144, modp_8192, modp_1536, dh_1024_160, dh_2048_224, dh_2048_256. (Default: "ffdhe4096")
--dhparams-generator={2,3,5}
The generator value for dhparams. (default: 2)
February 2026 sscg 4.0.3