Object IDs

Private Object IDs and OID lists for the distinguished name or extended key usage can be added in files listed below. The files are:

  • oids.txt: additional Object IDs

  • eku.txt: Content of ExtendedKeyUsage

  • dn.txt: Content of DistinguishedName

The search path for all the files is listed below. All files except oids.txt are searched in the order listed below and search stops at the first file found. The oids.txt file is searched in reversed order and all oids.txt files found are loaded.

  • Unix

    • $HOME/.xca/

    • /etc/xca/

    • PREFIX/share/xca/ (PREFIX is usually /usr or /usr/local)

  • Windows

    • CSIDL_APPDATAxca, which is something like

      C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\xca or C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\xca

    • Installation directory e.g.: C:\Program Files\xca

  • MacOSX

    • $HOME/Library/Application Support/data/xca

    • /Applications/xca.app/Resources

The path of the user settings directory depends on the operating system and version. The path where XCA looks for this file is shown in the About dialog of XCA as User settings path.

New OIDs

All Object IDs that are not official, but belong to your company or organisation can be added in the file oids.txt. All possible locations for this file are searched and all oids.txt files found are loaded. This way the application-installer adds some in /usr/share/xca, the Administrator in /etc/xca and the user in $HOME/.xca. The format of this file is:<newline> OID:shortname:longname Leading and trailing spaces between the colons and the text are ignored. Lines starting with a # are ignored.

OID lists

The files containing OID lists (eku.txt, dn.txt) are handled in a different way, only the first one found is used. The format of this files is one entry per line. The entry can be either the numerical OID like 1.3.6.1.5.5.8.2.2, the short name like iKEIntermediate or the long name IP security end entity. Lines starting with a # are ignored. If this files shall contain new in-official OIDs, they must be also mentioned in one of the oids.txt files.

Configure Subject entries

If you want to / need to add your own company specific subject entry to your certificate it can be done without recompiling XCA.

  1. Add its OID with short name and long name to one of the oids.txt file listed in New OIDs like: 1.3.6.1.4.1.12345.1: zodiacSign: Zodiac Sign

  2. Add the OID, short name or long name to the first read dn.txt On Linux: cp /usr/share/xca/dn.txt ~/.xca/dn.txt && echo “zodiacSign” >> ~/.xca/dn.txt

  3. Start XCA, open your database and goto Options->Distinguished name. In the Explicit subject entries select Zodiac Sign, click Add, move it by dragging it in the list and click OK when satisfied.

  4. Create a new certificate and see.