psktool(1)

📦
version 3.8.13 · 8 versions
, in alpine 3.22, alpine 3.23, alpine 3.24, arch rolling, fedora 43, fedora 44, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu stonking

💖 psktool — the GnuTLS PSK tool, bestie edition 💖

okay so picture this: you need random keys for TLS-PSK and you want a little tool to do it for you. That's psktool, from the GnuTLS family, and she is iconic. Keys get stored in hexadecimal format in a key file, and honestly? clean. simple. slay. ✨

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

psktool [-flags] [-flag [value]] [--option-name[[=| ]value]]

All arguments must be options. No sneaky positional args, she doesn't play like that. 🎀

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

psktool is the program that generates random keys for use with TLS-PSK. The keys get written out in hexadecimal format into a key file. That's the whole vibe, and she eats every time. 💅

👑 OPTIONS 👑

  • -d num, --debug=num — turn on debugging, bestie. This option takes an integer as its argument, and num is constrained to being:
    • in the range 0 through 9999
    • It specifies the debug level. Crank it up if you wanna see everything. 🔍
  • -s num, --keysize=num — specify the key size in bytes. The default is 32-bytes, which is also 256-bits, iykyk. Takes an integer argument, and num is constrained to being:
    • in the range 0 through 512
  • -u str, --username=str — specify the username to use. 🫶
  • -p str, --pskfile=str — specify a pre-shared key file. This is the option that tells psktool which pre-shared key file to store the generated keys in. 🗂️
  • --passwd — this is an alias for the --pskfile option.
NOTE: THIS OPTION IS DEPRECATED 💀 like, she still works but she's giving vintage, use --pskfile instead.
  • -v arg, --version=arg — output the version of the program and exit. The default mode is v, a simple version. The c mode will print copyright information, and n will print the full copyright notice. ⭐
  • -h, --help — display usage information and exit. Your girl always comes through. 🙈
  • -!, --more-help — pass the extended usage information through a pager. Fancy. 🎀

📚 EXAMPLES 📚

To add a user psk_identity in keys.psk for use with GnuTLS, run:

$ ./psktool -u psk_identity -p keys.psk
Generating a random key for user 'psk_identity'
Key stored to keys.psk
$ cat keys.psk
psk_identity:88f3824b3e5659f52d00e959bacab954b6540344
$

This command will create keys.psk if it does not exist, and will add user psk_identity. Not her making files out of thin air, that's main character energy fr fr. 🔥

🌈 EXIT STATUS 🌈

One of the following exit values will be returned:

  1. 0 (EXIT_SUCCESS) — successful program execution. We love a happy ending. 💖
  2. 1 (EXIT_FAILURE) — the operation failed, or the command syntax was not valid. 😭

🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

gnutls-cli-debug (1), gnutls-serv (1), srptool (1), certtool (1)

The whole friend group, go say hi. 🦋

💜 AUTHORS 💜

ngl the AUTHORS section is just… empty in the original. Nothing there. A mystery, a blank canvas, we simply don't know. 🙈

Copyright (C) 2020-2023 Free Software Foundation, and others all rights reserved. This program is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later.

🍓 BUGS 🍓

Please send bug reports to: bugs@gnutls.org

and that's the whole page, bestie — written by the psktool(1) girlies of GnuTLS 3.8.13, dated 29 Apr 2026. periodt. 💅✨

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