OPENSSL-PASSPHRASE-OPTIONS(1ossl)

💅 OPENSSL-PASSPHRASE-OPTIONS 💅

okay so bestie, this is the openssl-passphrase-options page from the 1ossl manual — and fr fr it's the glow-up guide for how OpenSSL commands want ur password handed to them 🫶

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

openssl command [ options ... ] [ parameters ... ]

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So like, a bunch of OpenSSL commands are out here accepting password arguments — usually -passin and -passout for the input password and the output password respectively 💖 These let u grab the password from a whole variety of sources, it's giving options on options.

Both of these options take a single argument, and the format of that argument is, like, exactly what's described down below 👇

And if u don't pass a password argument at all but a password is still required? Not me forgetting 😭 the user gets prompted to enter one — typically it's read from the current terminal with echoing turned off, so nobody's shoulder-surfing ur vibe check.

ngl, character encoding can actually matter here. Pls see passphrase-encoding(7) — that's your bestie for the details 🦋

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

⭐ Pass Phrase Option Arguments

Here's the tea — pass phrase arguments can be formatted as follows ☕

• pass:password — the actual password is literally password. But bestie, since that password is visible to utilities (like ps under Unix) this form should only be used where security is not important 🙈 key word: not important.
• env:var — obtain the password from the environment variable var. Since the environment of other processes is visible on certain platforms (e.g. ps under certain Unix OSes) this option should be used with caution ⚠️ yes queen but be careful.
• file:pathname — reads the password from the specified file pathname, which can be a regular file, device, or named pipe. Only the first line — up to the newline character — is read from the stream 📖 iconic line discipline.

If the same pathname argument is supplied to both -passin and -passout arguments, the first line will be used for the input password, and the next line will be used for the output password 🔥 two lines, two jobs, no cap.

• fd:number — reads the password from the file descriptor number. This can be useful for sending data via a pipe, for example 🧚 the same line handling as described for file: applies to passwords read from file descriptors.

💀 heads up: fd: is not supported on Windows.

• stdin — reads the password from standard input. The same line handling as described for file: applies to passwords read from standard input 🌈 same energy, different source.

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👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright 2000-2024 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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okay that's the whole page and she ate 💅 muah! this was OpenSSL 3.5.9, dated 2026-09-29, from the OPENSSL-PASSPHRASE-OPTIONS(1ossl) manual — catch u on the next one bestie, slay 🎀✨🦋