SIGNIFY(1) FreeBSD General Commands Manual SIGNIFY(1)
NAME
signify - cryptographically sign and verify files
SYNOPSIS
signify -C [-q] [-p pubkey] [-t keytype] -x sigfile [file ...]
signify -G [-n] [-c comment] -p pubkey -s seckey
signify -S [-enz] [-x sigfile] -s seckey -m message
signify -V [-eqz] [-p pubkey] [-t keytype] [-x sigfile] -m message
DESCRIPTION
The signify utility creates and verifies cryptographic signatures. A
signature verifies the integrity of a message. The mode of operation is
selected with the following options:
-C Verify a signed checksum list, and then verify the checksum
for each file. If no files are specified, all of them are
checked. sigfile should be the signed output of sha256(1).
-G Generate a new key pair. Keynames should follow the
convention of keyname.pub and keyname.sec for the public and
secret keys, respectively.
-S Sign the specified message file and create a signature.
-V Verify the message and signature match.
The other options are as follows:
-c comment Specify the comment to be added during key generation.
-e When signing, embed the message after the signature. When
verifying, extract the message from the signature. (This
requires that the signature was created using -e and
creates a new message file as output.)
-m message When signing, the file containing the message to sign.
When verifying, the file containing the message to verify.
When verifying with -e, the file to create.
-n When generating a key pair, do not ask for a passphrase.
Otherwise, signify will prompt the user for a passphrase to
protect the secret key. When signing with -z, store a zero
time stamp in the gzip(1) header.
-p pubkey Public key produced by -G, and used by -V to check a
signature.
-q Quiet mode. Suppress informational output.
-s seckey Secret (private) key produced by -G, and used by -S to sign
a message.
-t keytype When deducing the correct key to check a signature, make
sure the actual key matches /etc/signify/*-keytype.pub.
-x sigfile The signature file to create or verify. The default is
message.sig.
-z Sign and verify gzip(1) archives, where the signing data is
embedded in the gzip(1) header.
The key and signature files created by signify have the same format. The
first line of the file is a free form text comment that may be edited, so
long as it does not exceed a single line. Signature comments will be
generated based on the name of the secret key used for signing. This
comment can then be used as a hint for the name of the public key when
verifying. The second line of the file is the actual key or signature
base64 encoded.
EXIT STATUS
The signify utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs. It
may fail because of one of the following reasons:
o Some necessary files do not exist.
o Entered passphrase is incorrect.
o The message file was corrupted and its signature does not match.
o The message file is too large.
EXAMPLES
Create a new key pair:
$ signify -G -p newkey.pub -s newkey.sec
Sign a file, specifying a signature name:
$ signify -S -s key.sec -m message.txt -x msg.sig
Verify a signature, using the default signature name:
$ signify -V -p key.pub -m generalsorders.txt
Verify a release directory containing SHA256.sig and a full set of
release files:
$ signify -C -p /etc/signify/openbsd-78-base.pub -x SHA256.sig
Verify a bsd.rd before an upgrade:
$ signify -C -p /etc/signify/openbsd-78-base.pub -x SHA256.sig bsd.rd
Sign a gzip archive:
$ signify -Sz -s key-arc.sec -m in.tgz -x out.tgz
Verify a gzip pipeline:
$ ftp url | signify -Vz -t arc | tar ztf -
SEE ALSO
gzip(1), pkg_add(1), sha256(1), fw_update(8), sysupgrade(8)
HISTORY
The signify command first appeared in OpenBSD 5.5.
AUTHORS
Ted Unangst <
[email protected]> and Marc Espie <
[email protected]>.
FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8 March 1, 2025 FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8