OPENSSL-GENDSA(1ossl)

💅 openssl-gendsa

okay bestie, so this is the openssl-gendsa page — one of the OpenSSL manual pages, section 1ossl 🎀. And honestly? It's a short one. We love a low-effort icon.

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✨ NAME ✨

openssl-gendsa — generate a DSA private key from a set of parameters 🦋

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

openssl gendsa [-help] [-out filename] [-passout arg] [-aes128]
[-aes192] [-aes256] [-aria128] [-aria192] [-aria256] [-camellia128]
[-camellia192] [-camellia256] [-des] [-des3] [-idea] [-verbose] [-quiet]
[-rand files] [-writerand file] [-engine id] [-provider name]
[-provider-path path] [-provparam [name:]key=value] [-propquery propq]
[paramfile]

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so what does it actually do? It generates a DSA private key, and it makes that key from a DSA parameter file 🌈. And where does that parameter file come from, you ask? Typically it's generated by the openssl-dsaparam(1) command. Circle of life, honestly 🔥

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -help — prints out a usage message. the "what am I even looking at" button 🫶
• -out filename — writes the key out to the file you name. If you don't pass this argument, standard output is used instead — so yeah, it just goes straight to stdout 💫
• -passout arg — the passphrase used for the output file. peep openssl-passphrase-options(1) for the details 🔑
• -aes128, -aes192, -aes256, -aria128, -aria192, -aria256, -camellia128, -camellia192, -camellia256, -des, -des3, -idea — these encrypt the private key with the specified cipher before outputting it 🔐. You'll get prompted for a pass phrase. If you specify none of these options, no encryption is used. Zero. none. nada 🙈

⚠️ heads up bestie: all options must be given before the paramfile argument. order matters, no cap 💀

• -verbose — prints extra details about the operations being performed. give me the lore 👀
• -quiet — prints fewer details about the operations being performed, which may be handy during batch scripts and pipelines 🤫 iconic for automation
• -rand files, -writerand file — see "Random State Options" in openssl(1) for details 🎲
• -engine id — see "Engine Options" in openssl(1). This option is deprecated 🚩 (more on that in HISTORY)
• paramfile — the DSA parameter file to use 🗂️. The parameters in this file determine the size of the private key. DSA parameters can be generated and examined using the openssl-dsaparam(1) command.
• -provider name
• -provider-path path
• -provparam [name:]key=value
• -propquery propq — see "Provider Options" in openssl(1), provider(7), and property(7) 🧚 that's the whole vibe check on these

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🦋 NOTES 🦋

okay so real talk: DSA key generation is little more than random number generation, which means it is much quicker than RSA key generation, for example ⚡ literally the speedrun of keygen, iykyk

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🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

openssl(1), openssl-genpkey(1), openssl-dsaparam(1), openssl-dsa(1), openssl-genrsa(1), openssl-rsa(1) 💜 go read the whole friend group, they're all linked

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💀 HISTORY 💀

The -engine option was deprecated in OpenSSL 3.0. she's retired, we respect her legacy 🎀

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👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright 2000-2023 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>.

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and that's the whole page, bestie 💅✨ this one's from OpenSSL 3.5.9, dated 2026-09-29 — go forth and generate those keys, you main character 🫶🌈