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<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"><title>SIGNVER</title><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="SIGNVER"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">SIGNVER</th></tr></table><hr></div><div class="refentry"><a name="signver"></a><div class="titlepage"></div><div class="refnamediv"><h2>Name</h2><p>signver — Verify a detached PKCS#7 signature for a file.</p></div><div class="refsynopsisdiv"><h2>Synopsis</h2><div class="cmdsynopsis"><p><code class="command">signtool</code> -A | -V -d <em class="replaceable"><code>directory</code></em> [-a] [-i <em class="replaceable"><code>input_file</code></em>] [-o <em class="replaceable"><code>output_file</code></em>] [-s <em class="replaceable"><code>signature_file</code></em>] [-v]</p></div></div><div class="refsection"><a name="idm45992751922208"></a><h2>STATUS</h2><p>This documentation is still work in progress. Please contribute to the initial review in <a class="ulink" href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=836477" target="_top">Mozilla NSS bug 836477</a>
</p></div><div class="refsection"><a name="description"></a><h2>Description</h2><p>The Signature Verification Tool, <span class="command"><strong>signver</strong></span>, is a simple command-line utility that unpacks a base-64-encoded PKCS#7 signed object and verifies the digital signature using standard cryptographic techniques. The Signature Verification Tool can also display the contents of the signed object.</p></div><div class="refsection"><a name="options"></a><h2>Options</h2><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term">-A</span></dt><dd><p>Displays all of the information in the PKCS#7 signature.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">-V</span></dt><dd><p>Verifies the digital signature.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">-d <span class="emphasis"><em>directory</em></span></span></dt><dd><p>Specify the database directory which contains the certificates and keys.</p><p><span class="command"><strong>signver</strong></span> supports two types of databases: the legacy security databases (<code class="filename">cert8.db</code>, <code class="filename">key3.db</code>, and <code class="filename">secmod.db</code>) and new SQLite databases (<code class="filename">cert9.db</code>, <code class="filename">key4.db</code>, and <code class="filename">pkcs11.txt</code>). If the prefix <span class="command"><strong>dbm:</strong></span> is not used, then the tool assumes that the given databases are in the SQLite format.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">-a</span></dt><dd><p>Sets that the given signature file is in ASCII format.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">-i <span class="emphasis"><em>input_file</em></span></span></dt><dd><p>Gives the input file for the object with signed data.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">-o <span class="emphasis"><em>output_file</em></span></span></dt><dd><p>Gives the output file to which to write the results.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">-s <span class="emphasis"><em>signature_file</em></span></span></dt><dd><p>Gives the input file for the digital signature.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">-v</span></dt><dd><p>Enables verbose output.</p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="refsection"><a name="examples"></a><h2>Extended Examples</h2><div class="refsection"><a name="idm45992752059232"></a><h3>Verifying a Signature</h3><p>The <code class="option">-V</code> option verifies that the signature in a given signature file is valid when used to sign the given object (from the input file).</p><pre class="programlisting">signver -V -s <em class="replaceable"><code>signature_file</code></em> -i <em class="replaceable"><code>signed_file</code></em> -d /home/my/sharednssdb
signatureValid=yes</pre></div><div class="refsection"><a name="idm45992752056160"></a><h3>Printing Signature Data</h3><p>
The <code class="option">-A</code> option prints all of the information contained in a signature file. Using the <code class="option">-o</code> option prints the signature file information to the given output file rather than stdout.
</p><pre class="programlisting">signver -A -s <em class="replaceable"><code>signature_file</code></em> -o <em class="replaceable"><code>output_file</code></em></pre></div></div><div class="refsection"><a name="databases"></a><h2>NSS Database Types</h2><p>NSS originally used BerkeleyDB databases to store security information.
The last versions of these <span class="emphasis"><em>legacy</em></span> databases are:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>
cert8.db for certificates
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
key3.db for keys
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
secmod.db for PKCS #11 module information
</p></li></ul></div><p>BerkeleyDB has performance limitations, though, which prevent it from being easily used by multiple applications simultaneously. NSS has
some flexibility that allows applications to use their own, independent database engine while keeping a shared database and working around the access issues. Still, NSS
requires more flexibility to provide a truly shared security database.</p><p>In 2009, NSS introduced a new set of databases that are SQLite databases rather than
BerkleyDB. These new databases provide more accessibility and performance:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>
cert9.db for certificates
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
key4.db for keys
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
pkcs11.txt, which is listing of all of the PKCS #11 modules contained in a new subdirectory in the security databases directory
</p></li></ul></div><p>Because the SQLite databases are designed to be shared, these are the <span class="emphasis"><em>shared</em></span> database type. The shared database type is preferred; the legacy format is included for backward compatibility.</p><p>By default, the tools (<span class="command"><strong>certutil</strong></span>, <span class="command"><strong>pk12util</strong></span>, <span class="command"><strong>modutil</strong></span>) assume that the given security databases use the SQLite type
Using the legacy databases must be manually specified by using the <span class="command"><strong>dbm:</strong></span> prefix with the given security directory. For example:</p><pre class="programlisting"># signver -A -s <em class="replaceable"><code>signature</code></em> -d dbm:/home/my/sharednssdb</pre><p>To set the legacy database type as the default type for the tools, set the <code class="envar">NSS_DEFAULT_DB_TYPE</code> environment variable to <code class="envar">dbm</code>:</p><pre class="programlisting">export NSS_DEFAULT_DB_TYPE="dbm"</pre><p>This line can be added to the <code class="filename">~/.bashrc</code> file to make the change permanent for the user.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>
https://wiki.mozilla.org/NSS_Shared_DB_Howto</p></li></ul></div><p>For an engineering draft on the changes in the shared NSS databases, see the NSS project wiki:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>
</p></li></ul></div></div><div class="refsection"><a name="seealso"></a><h2>See Also</h2><p>signtool (1)</p><p>The NSS wiki has information on the new database design and how to configure applications to use it.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>Setting up the shared NSS database</p><p>https://wiki.mozilla.org/NSS_Shared_DB_Howto</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Engineering and technical information about the shared NSS database
</p><p>
</p></li></ul></div></div><div class="refsection"><a name="resources"></a><h2>Additional Resources</h2><p>For information about NSS and other tools related to NSS (like JSS), check out the NSS project wiki at <a class="ulink" href="http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/pki/nss/" target="_top">http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/pki/nss/</a>. The NSS site relates directly to NSS code changes and releases.</p><p>Mailing lists: https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-tech-crypto</p><p>IRC: Freenode at #dogtag-pki</p></div><div class="refsection"><a name="authors"></a><h2>Authors</h2><p>The NSS tools were written and maintained by developers with Netscape, Red Hat, Sun, Oracle, Mozilla, and Google.</p><p>
Authors: Elio Maldonado <emaldona@redhat.com>, Deon Lackey <dlackey@redhat.com>.
</p></div><div class="refsection"><a name="license"></a><h2>LICENSE</h2><p>Licensed under the Mozilla Public License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
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