SIGNIFY(1)

NAME
signify - cryptographically sign and verify files

SYNOPSIS
signify -C [-q] -p pubkey -x sigfile [file ...]
signify -G [-n] [-c comment] -p pubkey -s seckey
signify -S [-e] [-x sigfile] -s seckey -m message
signify -V [-eq] [-x sigfile] -p pubkey -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.

-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  Do not ask for a passphrase during key generation. Otherwise, signify will prompt the user for a passphrase to protect the secret key.

-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.

-x sigfile
    The signature file to create or verify. The default is message.sig.

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. The second line of the file is the actual key or signature base64 encoded.

EXIT STATUS
It may fail because of one of the following reasons:

•   Some necessary files do not exist.
•   Entered passphrase is incorrect.
•   The message file was corrupted and its signature does not match.
•   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-58-base.pub -x SHA256.sig

Verify a bsd.rd before an upgrade:
    $ signify -C -p /etc/signify/openbsd-58-base.pub -x SHA256.sig bsd.rd

SEE ALSO
fw_update(1), pkg_add(1), sha256(1)

HISTORY
The signify command first appeared in OpenBSD 5.5.

AUTHORS
Ted Unangst <tedu@openbsd.org>