certbot/docs/using.rst

Using the Let's Encrypt client

Getting the code

Please install Git and run the following commands:

git clone https://github.com/letsencrypt/letsencrypt
cd letsencrypt

Alternatively you could download the ZIP archive and extract the snapshot of our repository, but it's strongly recommended to use the above method instead.

Installation and Usage

To install and run the client you just need to type:

./letsencrypt-auto

(Once letsencrypt is packaged by distributions, the command will just be letsencrypt. letsencrypt-auto is a wrapper which installs virtualized dependencies and provides automated updates during the beta program)

The letsencrypt commandline tool has a builtin help:

./letsencrypt-auto --help

Warning

Please do not use python setup.py install or python pip install .. Please do not attempt the installation commands as superuser/root and/or without virtual environment, e.g. sudo python setup.py install, sudo pip install, sudo ./venv/bin/.... These modes of operation might corrupt your operating system and are not supported by the Let's Encrypt team!

Configuration file

It is possible to specify configuration file with letsencrypt-auto --config cli.ini (or shorter -c cli.ini). An example configuration file is shown below:

By default, the following locations are searched:

• /etc/letsencrypt/cli.ini
• $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/letsencrypt/cli.ini (or ~/.config/letsencrypt/cli.ini if $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not set).

Running with Docker

Docker is another way to quickly obtain testing certs. From the server that the domain your requesting a cert for resolves to, install Docker, issue the following command:

sudo docker run -it --rm -p 443:443 --name letsencrypt \
            -v "/etc/letsencrypt:/etc/letsencrypt" \
            -v "/var/lib/letsencrypt:/var/lib/letsencrypt" \
            quay.io/letsencrypt/letsencrypt:latest auth

and follow the instructions. Your new cert will be available in /etc/letsencrypt/certs.