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PKCS7

Section: OpenSSL (1)
Updated: 2017-05-25
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NAME

pkcs7 - PKCS#7 utility

SYNOPSIS

openssl pkcs7 [-inform PEM|DER] [-outform PEM|DER] [-in filename] [-out filename] [-print_certs] [-text] [-noout] [-engine id]

DESCRIPTION

The pkcs7 command processes PKCS#7 files in DER or PEM format.

COMMAND OPTIONS

-inform DER|PEM: This specifies the input format. DER format is DER encoded PKCS#7 v1.5 structure.PEM (the default) is a base64 encoded version of the DER form with 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 from or standard input if this option is not specified.
-out filename: specifies the output filename to write to or standard output by default.
-print_certs: prints out any certificates or CRLs contained in the file. They are preceded by their subject and issuer names in one line format.
-text: prints out certificates details in full rather than just subject and issuer names.
-noout: don't output the encoded version of the PKCS#7 structure (or certificates is -print_certs is set).
-engine id: specifying an engine (by its unique id string) will cause pkcs7 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.

EXAMPLES

Convert a PKCS#7 file from PEM to DER:

 openssl pkcs7 -in file.pem -outform DER -out file.der

Output all certificates in a file:

 openssl pkcs7 -in file.pem -print_certs -out certs.pem

NOTES

The PEM PKCS#7 format uses the header and footer lines:

 -----BEGIN PKCS7-----
 -----END PKCS7-----

For compatibility with some CAs it will also accept:

 -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
 -----END CERTIFICATE-----

RESTRICTIONS

There is no option to print out all the fields of a PKCS#7 file.

This PKCS#7 routines only understand PKCS#7 v 1.5 as specified in RFC2315 they cannot currently parse, for example, the new CMS as described in RFC2630.