OPENSSL-CMDS(1ossl)

📦
version 15.1 · 2 versions
, in freebsd 15.1

🌸 OPENSSL-CMDS(1ossl) — the group chat of OpenSSL commands 🌸

okay so bestie, welcome to openssl-cmds — aka the manual page, the mothership, the main character of the whole OpenSSL manual set (openssl-cmds(1ossl), that's the one you're reading rn 💅). This is the page that introduces every single openssl subcommand, and honestly? It's giving index-of-the-whole-audience. Let's get into it ✨

🎀 NAME 🎀

asn1parse, ca, ciphers, cmp, cms, crl, crl2pkcs7, dgst, dhparam, dsa, dsaparam, ec, ecparam, enc, engine, errstr, gendsa, genpkey, genrsa, info, kdf, mac, nseq, ocsp, passwd, pkcs12, pkcs7, pkcs8, pkey, pkeyparam, pkeyutl, prime, rand, rehash, req, rsa, rsautl, s_client, s_server, s_time, sess_id, smime, speed, spkac, srp, storeutl, ts, verify, version, x509 — OpenSSL application commands ✨

(yes that's the whole squad, no cap 🫶)

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

openssl cmd -help | [-option | -option arg] ... [arg] ...

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Every single cmd in that big list up there? It's a (sub-)command of the openssl(1) application. Periodt. 🌈

Each one has its own detailed manual page living at openssl-cmd(1) — so like, if you wanna see the manual page for the openssl dgst command, you literally just type:

man openssl-dgst

and boom, you're in 🧚 iykyk

✨ OPTIONS ✨

Among others, every subcommand has a help option. Lowkey iconic of them.

  • -help — prints out a usage message for the subcommand 💜 (your first stop whenever a command is acting mysterious, fr fr)

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

openssl(1), openssl-asn1parse(1), openssl-ca(1), openssl-ciphers(1), openssl-cmp(1), openssl-cms(1), openssl-crl(1), openssl-crl2pkcs7(1), openssl-dgst(1), openssl-dhparam(1), openssl-dsa(1), openssl-dsaparam(1), openssl-ec(1), openssl-ecparam(1), openssl-enc(1), openssl-engine(1), openssl-errstr(1), openssl-gendsa(1), openssl-genpkey(1), openssl-genrsa(1), openssl-info(1), openssl-kdf(1), openssl-mac(1), openssl-nseq(1), openssl-ocsp(1), openssl-passwd(1), openssl-pkcs12(1), openssl-pkcs7(1), openssl-pkcs8(1), openssl-pkey(1), openssl-pkeyparam(1), openssl-pkeyutl(1), openssl-prime(1), openssl-rand(1), openssl-rehash(1), openssl-req(1), openssl-rsa(1), openssl-rsautl(1), openssl-s_client(1), openssl-s_server(1), openssl-s_time(1), openssl-sess_id(1), openssl-smime(1), openssl-speed(1), openssl-spkac(1), openssl-srp(1), openssl-storeutl(1), openssl-ts(1), openssl-verify(1), openssl-version(1), openssl-x509(1)

💀 HISTORY 💀

So back in the day, the manual page entry for the "openssl cmd" command used to live at cmd(1). Then later they introduced the alias openssl-cmd(1), which made it way easier to group all the openssl commands together using the apropos(1) command or your shell's tab completion. Slay for discoverability ✨

And then — to reduce cluttering of the global manual page namespace (respect honestly) — the manual page entries without the openssl- prefix got deprecated in OpenSSL 3.0 and will be removed in OpenSSL 4.0.

🚨 heads up bestie: if you're still reaching for the old prefix-less pages, they're on the way out. Not me warning you twice, but like... I am.

Copyright 2019-2020 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at <https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.

and that's the whole page, bestie 🫶 this was OpenSSL 3.5.6, dated 2026-04-07, filed under OPENSSL-CMDS(1ossl) — go forth and man responsibly 😭💖

📦 where this page comes from