IPSEC-SHOWSTATES(8)

💖 IPSEC-SHOWSTATES 💖

okay bestie, so this is a section 8 page — that means it's a system/executable program, not some lil library thing. it's called ipsec-showstates, and it lives in the Executable programs family. all lowercase, hyphen in the middle, exactly like that, no cap. 👑

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✨ NAME ✨

ipsec-showstates — show current IKE SA and Child SA states 🫶

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

ipsec showstates [--ctlsocket /run/pluto/pluto.ctl]

that's it. that's the whole vibe. one single optional flag, she's lowkey minimal and we love that for her 💅

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so literally what this does: ipsec showstates lists the current IKE SA and Child SA states. that's the whole job. it's giving "just show me what's going on right now" energy. 🔥

no weird side quests, no mystery. you run it, it shows you the states, you go about your day. iconic behaviour fr fr ✨

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• --ctlsocket — lets you point at a specific control socket, and the default it rolls with is /run/pluto/pluto.ctl. so if your pluto is chilling somewhere non-standard, this is how you tell her where to look 💅

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💜 SEE ALSO 💜

omg the friend group is HUGE, get comfy bestie, here's the whole squad:

ipsec.conf(5), ipsec(8), ipsec-add(8), ipsec-algparse(8), ipsec-briefconnectionstatus(8), ipsec-briefstatus(8), ipsec-certutil(8), ipsec-checkconfig(8), ipsec-checknflog(8), ipsec-checknss(8), ipsec-connectionstatus(8), ipsec-crlutil(8), ipsec-delete(8), ipsec-down(8), ipsec-ecdsasigkey(8), ipsec-fetchcrls(8), ipsec-fipsstatus(8), ipsec-globalstatus(8), ipsec-import(8), ipsec-initnss(8), ipsec-letsencrypt(8), ipsec-listall(8), ipsec-listcacerts(8), ipsec-listcerts(8), ipsec-listcrls(8), ipsec-listen(8), ipsec-listpubkeys(8), ipsec-modutil(8), ipsec-newhostkey(8), ipsec-ondemand(8), ipsec-pk12util(8), ipsec-pluto(8), ipsec-purgeocsp(8), ipsec-redirect(8), ipsec-replace(8), ipsec-rereadall(8), ipsec-rereadcerts(8), ipsec-rereadsecrets(8), ipsec-restart(8), ipsec-route(8), ipsec-rsasigkey(8), ipsec-setup(8), ipsec-showhostkey(8), ipsec-showroute(8), ipsec-shuntstatus(8), ipsec-start(8), ipsec-status(8), ipsec-stop(8), ipsec-trafficstatus(8), ipsec-unroute(8), ipsec-up(8), ipsec-vfychain(8), ipsec-whack(8)

that's 53 little siblings btw. she's not alone in this world 🫶

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💀 BUGS 💀

none

literally none. flawless. no notes. ate and left no crumbs. 🔥👑

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🌈 AUTHOR 🌈

Andrew Cagney, Tuomo Soini — ty kings, we appreciate you 🫶

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okay and the lil sign-off at the bottom of the page says this is from Libreswan 5.4.1, dated 10/23/2026, and it's filed under IPSEC-SHOWSTATES(8). so that's the whole page bestie, now go check those SA states, mwah 💋✨