OPENSSL-NSEQ(1ossl)

💅 openssl-nseq — the manual, but make it make sense

okay so bestie, welcome to openssl-nseq from the OpenSSL 1ossl manual set ✨ this is the little command that either creates or examines a Netscape certificate sequence. yes it's a whole thing, we'll get there 💖

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

openssl nseq [-help] [-in filename] [-out filename] [-toseq] [-provider
name] [-provider-path path] [-provparam [name:]key=value] [-propquery
propq]

that's it. that's the whole vibe. she's compact 🎀

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so here's the tea ☕ — this command does two things, and which one you get depends on whether you pass -toseq:

• give it a file containing a Netscape certificate sequence and it prints out the certificates chillin' inside it 🦋
• give it a file of certificates and it converts them into a Netscape certificate sequence 💫

and what even is a Netscape certificate sequence, you ask? okay so it's this old Netscape-specific format — a real blast-from-the-past situation 👵✨ — that can sometimes be sent to browsers as an alternative to the standard PKCS#7 format when several certificates get sent to the browser, for example during certificate enrollment. it was also used by the Netscape certificate server. so yeah, it's giving legacy icon behavior, but it's still out here and this page is the whole manual for it 🫶

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -help — prints out a usage message. the "wait what were the flags again" button 🙈
• -in filename — says which input filename to read. no -in? then it reads standard input. lowkey convenient 💅
• -out filename — sets the output filename. default is standard output if you don't specify one 🍓
• -toseq — okay so normally a Netscape certificate sequence is the input, and the output is the certificates contained in it. with -toseq the whole situation flips 🔄 — a Netscape certificate sequence gets created from a file of certificates. main character reversal energy fr fr 👑
• -provider name
• -provider-path path
• -provparam [name:]key=value
• -propquery propq

for all four of these provider ones 👆 — see "Provider Options" in openssl(1), provider(7), and property(7). that's where the lore lives 📚✨

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

🦋 output the certificates in a Netscape certificate sequence

openssl nseq -in nseq.pem -out certs.pem

👑 create a Netscape certificate sequence

openssl nseq -in certs.pem -toseq -out nseq.pem

look at that. in, out, and -toseq doing the flip. slay 💅

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💜 COPYRIGHT 💜

Copyright 2000-2020 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>. (no, that's not a link you can tap in here, it's just the string, don't @ me 😭)

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and that's the whole page bestie, no notes 🧚✨ this was openssl-nseq(1ossl) — source & version 3.5.0, dated 2026-09-25. go forth and sequence your certificates responsibly 💖🔥