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SQ(1)				  User Commands 			   SQ(1)

NAME
     sq-pki-authenticate - Authenticate a binding

SYNOPSIS
     sq pki authenticate [OPTIONS]

DESCRIPTION
     Authenticate a binding.

     Authenticate  a  binding  (a certificate and User ID) by looking for a path
     from the trust roots to the specified binding in the Web of Trust.  Because
     certifications may express uncertainty (i.e., certifications may be  marked
     as conveying only partial or marginal trust), multiple paths may be needed.

     An  error	is  return if no binding could be authenticated to the specified
     level (by default: fully authenticated, i.e., a trust amount of 120).

     If any valid paths to the binding are found, they	are  printed  on  stdout
     whether they are sufficient to authenticate the binding or not.

OPTIONS
   Subcommand options
     --amount=AMOUNT
	    The required amount of trust

	    120  indicates  full  authentication;  values less than 120 indicate
	    partial authentication.  When `--certification-network`  is  passed,
	    this defaults to 1200, i.e., this command tries to find 10 paths.

     --cert=FINGERPRINT|KEYID
	    Use certificates with the specified fingerprint or key ID

     --certification-network
	    Treats the network as a certification network

	    Normally,  the authentication machinery treats the Web of Trust net-
	    work as an authentication network where a certification  only  means
	    that  the  binding is correct, not that the target should be treated
	    as a trusted introducer.  In a certification network, the targets of
	    certifications are treated	as  trusted  introducers  with	infinite
	    depth,  and  any  regular  expressions are ignored.  Note: The trust
	    amount remains unchanged.  This is how most so-called PGP path-find-
	    ing algorithms work.

     --email=EMAIL
	    Authenticate the specified email address

	    This checks whether it is possible to authenticate a  user	ID  with
	    the  specified  email  address.  The user IDs do not need to be self
	    signed.  To authenticate a user ID	containing  just  the  specified
	    email address, use `--userid <EMAIL>`.

     --gossip
	    Treats all certificates as unreliable trust roots

	    This  option  is  useful  for figuring out what others think about a
	    certificate (i.e., gossip or hearsay).  In other words,  this  finds
	    arbitrary paths to a particular certificate.

	    Gossip  is useful in helping to identify alternative ways to authen-
	    ticate a certificate.  For instance, imagine Ed wants  to  authenti-
	    cate  Laura's  certificate, but asking her directly is inconvenient.
	    Ed discovers that Micah has certified Laura's  certificate,  but  Ed
	    hasn't  yet  authenticated Micah's certificate.  If Ed is willing to
	    rely on Micah as a trusted introducer,  and  authenticating  Micah's
	    certificate  is easier than authenticating Laura's certificate, then
	    Ed has learned about an easier way to authenticate Laura's	certifi-
	    cate.

	    Stable since 1.1.0.

     --show-paths
	    Show why a binding is authenticated

	    By	default,  only a user ID and certificate binding's degree of au-
	    thentication (a value between 0 and 120) is shown.	This changes the
	    output to also show how that value was computed by showing the paths
	    from the trust roots to the bindings.

     --unusable
	    Show bindings that are unusable

	    Normally, unusable certificates and bindings are not shown. This op-
	    tion considers bindings, even if they are not unusable, because they
	    (or the certificates) are not valid according to the policy, are re-
	    voked, or are not live.

	    This option only makes sense with `--gossip`, because unusable bind-
	    ings are still considered unauthenticated.

	    Stable since 1.1.0.

     --userid=USERID
	    Authenticate the specified user ID

	    The specified user ID does not need to be self signed.

   Global options
     See sq(1) for a description of the global options.

EXAMPLES
     Authenticate a specific binding.

	    sq pki authenticate --cert \
		   EB28F26E2739A4870ECC47726F0073F60FD0CBF0 --userid \
		   "Alice <alice@example.org>"

     Check whether we can authenticate any user ID with the specified email  ad-
     dress for the given certificate.

	    sq pki authenticate --cert \
		   EB28F26E2739A4870ECC47726F0073F60FD0CBF0 --email \
		   alice@example.org

SEE ALSO
     sq(1), sq-pki(1).

     For the full documentation see <https://book.sequoia-pgp.org/>.

VERSION
     1.3.1

Sequoia PGP			      1.3.1				   SQ(1)

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