certsign 0.4.1
A tiny ACME (Let's Encrypt) Python 2 & 3 client library with minimal dependencies
License: BSD
Keywords: acme letsencrypt

========
certsign
========

A tiny ACME_ Python 2 & 3 client library with minimal dependencies. ACME is a
protocol for domain certificate verification and signing initiated by `Let's Encrypt`_.
This package is meant to be used as a library and also comes with command line scripts.

Installation
============

You can choose to either install it in your user's home directory or in the system directories.

This package depends on having the OpenSSL executable in the PATH.

Using pip
---------

To install it from PyPI_ using pip_ call::

  pip install certsign

You can also install it from a code checkout using::

  pip install .

Install to user home directory
------------------------------
With pip you can use the ``--user`` option to install it to your user's home directory::

  pip install --user certsign

If you install to the user directory on Linux ``$HOME/.local/bin`` should be in your
``$PATH``-variable. On Linux you can add the following to ``.profile`` or ``.bashrc``
in your home directory, if ``$HOME/.local/bin`` is not already in you PATH.

.. code:: bash

  # set PATH so it includes user's private .local/bin if it exists
  if [ -d "$HOME/.local/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
  fi

The location for the scripts and the method to add it to the PATH is different for MacOS/OSX
and Windows.

Usage
=====

As a library
------------

Signing a Certificate Signing Request (CSR)
...........................................
This is the primary usage of this library:

.. code:: python

  from certsign import client
  account_key = 'acme_directory_account.key'
  csr_file = 'your_domain.csr'
  challenges_path = '/path/served/by/your/http/server'
  account_email = 'you@example.com'

  signed_cert = client.sign_csr(
    account_key, csr_file, challenges_path, account_email=account_email
  )

Creating a private key and a CSR
................................

.. code:: python

  from certsign import crypto

  privkey_path = '/tmp/privkey.pem'
  csr_path = '/tmp/example.com.csr'

  privkey = crypto.create_private_key(bits=2048)
  with open(privkey_path, 'bw') as f:
    f.write(privkey)

  csr = crypto.create_csr(
    privkey_path,
    ['example.com', 'www.example.com'],
    openssl_conf='/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf'
  )
  with open(csr_path, 'bw') as f:
    f.write(csr)

Command line
------------

certsign
........
For signing a Certificate Signing Request (CSR)::

  certsign --account-key /path/to/account/key --csr /path/to/domain.csr \
    --challenge-dir /path/served/by/your/http/server \
    --account-email you@example.com

certsign-tool
.............
Create a private key::

  certsign-tool privkey --bits=4096 --out=/path/to/privkey.pem

Create a CSR::

  certsign-tool csr --privkey=/path/to/privkey.pem \
    --out=/path/to/example.com.csr example.com www.example.com

View the CSR you just created::

  certsign-tool view /path/to/example.com.csr

certsign-server
...............
A simple server to respond to ACME challenges::

  certsign-server --challenge-dir /path/served/by/your/http/server \
    --addr localhost \
    --port 8000 \
    --pidfile /tmp/certsign.pid &

To kill the server when finished:

.. code:: bash

  if [ -f /tmp/certsign.pid ]; then
    pkill -F /tmp/certsign.pid
  fi

Development
===========

It is recommended that you create a Python 3 virtual environment using pyvenv_, and a Python 2
virtual environment using virtualenv_.

Go to the root of this project (where setup.py is located) and run the following commands:

- For Python 3: ``pyvenv venv-certsign-py3`` and
  ``source venv-certsign-py3/bin/activate`` to activate.
- For Python 2: ``virtualenv venv-certsign-py2`` and
  ``source venv-certsign-py2/bin/activate`` to activate.

Set up a development environment using the following command (with literal square brackets)::

    pip install -e .[dev]

To run the test in your current environment::

    python setup.py test

To run the tests for several Python versions::

   tox


Release Process
===============

The release proccess is based on the official documentation for `distributing packages`_.

Create a `~/.pypirc`_ file to upload to The Python Package Index (PyPI)::

    [distutils]
    index-servers =
        pypi

    [pypi]
    username: somepypiuser
    password: somepassword

Create a bindary and a source release and use twine_ to upload the packages. Also sign the
packages using a gpg_ key::

    python setup.py sdist bdist_wheel
    twine upload -r pypi dist/*

.. _ACME: https://github.com/ietf-wg-acme/acme/
.. _Let's Encrypt: https://letsencrypt.org/
.. _PyPI: https://pypi.org/
.. _pip: https://pip.pypa.io/
.. _pyvenv: https://docs.python.org/3/library/venv.html
.. _virtualenv: http://docs.python-guide.org/en/latest/dev/virtualenvs/
.. _distributing packages: https://packaging.python.org/tutorials/distributing-packages/
.. _~/.pypirc: https://docs.python.org/3/distutils/packageindex.html#pypirc
.. _twine: https://github.com/pypa/twine
.. _gpg: https://gnupg.org/