3. Command-Line Utility: spkitool.py

The spkitool.py utility supports several different commands. The specific command to run is passed as an argument to spkitool.py. A typical usage would look like this:

% spkitool.py [generic options] command [command options]

The options and commands are described in the next section.

It may be helpful to think of spkitool.py as an analog to the GPG or PGP command-line tools. It manages a collection of keys and certificates stored on your local system.

You need to create a directory that spkitool.py will use to store keys and certificates. The default directory is /.spki, but you can change this by setting the $SPKIHOME environment variable or using the generic -d option to spkitool.py.

Many of the spkitool commands require the use of a public-private key pair. You should create a default key pair the first time you use spkitool. The default key will be used for all commands that require a key, unless you specify a different key. The easiest way to specify a key is with a SPKI name, which can be created with the name command described below.

3.1 spkitool.py command reference