path: root/doc/signing.txt

Generate a private key:

$ openssl genrsa -out mykey.sec 2048

The private key should be kept secret (only readable to the Nix daemon
user).


Generate the corresponding public key:

$ openssl rsa -in mykey.sec -pubout > mykey.pub

The public key should be copied to all machines to which you want to
export store paths.


Signing:

$ nix-hash --type sha256 --flat svn.nar | openssl rsautl -sign -inkey mykey.sec > svn.nar.sign


Verifying a signature:

$ test "$(nix-hash --type sha256 --flat svn.nar)" = "$(openssl rsautl -verify -inkey mykey.pub -pubin -in svn.nar.sign)"