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@denji
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Last active April 14, 2026 13:12
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Simple Golang HTTPS/TLS Examples
Generate private key (.key)
# Key considerations for algorithm "RSA" ≥ 2048-bit
openssl genrsa -out server.key 2048

# Key considerations for algorithm "ECDSA" ≥ secp384r1
# List ECDSA the supported curves (openssl ecparam -list_curves)
openssl ecparam -genkey -name secp384r1 -out server.key
Generation of self-signed(x509) public key (PEM-encodings .pem|.crt) based on the private (.key)
openssl req -new -x509 -sha256 -key server.key -out server.crt -days 3650

Simple Golang HTTPS/TLS Server

package main

import (
    // "fmt"
    // "io"
    "net/http"
    "log"
)

func HelloServer(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
    w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "text/plain")
    w.Write([]byte("This is an example server.\n"))
    // fmt.Fprintf(w, "This is an example server.\n")
    // io.WriteString(w, "This is an example server.\n")
}

func main() {
    http.HandleFunc("/hello", HelloServer)
    err := http.ListenAndServeTLS(":443", "server.crt", "server.key", nil)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal("ListenAndServe: ", err)
    }
}

Hint: visit, please do not forget to use https begins,otherwise chrome will download a file as follows:

$ curl -sL https://localhost:443 | xxd
0000000: 1503 0100 0202 0a                        .......

TLS (transport layer security) — Server

package main

import (
    "log"
    "crypto/tls"
    "net"
    "bufio"
)

func main() {
    log.SetFlags(log.Lshortfile)

    cer, err := tls.LoadX509KeyPair("server.crt", "server.key")
    if err != nil {
        log.Println(err)
        return
    }

    config := &tls.Config{Certificates: []tls.Certificate{cer}}
    ln, err := tls.Listen("tcp", ":443", config) 
    if err != nil {
        log.Println(err)
        return
    }
    defer ln.Close()

    for {
        conn, err := ln.Accept()
        if err != nil {
            log.Println(err)
            continue
        }
        go handleConnection(conn)
    }
}

func handleConnection(conn net.Conn) {
    defer conn.Close()
    r := bufio.NewReader(conn)
    for {
        msg, err := r.ReadString('\n')
        if err != nil {
            log.Println(err)
            return
        }

        println(msg)

        n, err := conn.Write([]byte("world\n"))
        if err != nil {
            log.Println(n, err)
            return
        }
    }
}

TLS (transport layer security) — Client

package main

import (
    "log"
    "crypto/tls"
)

func main() {
    log.SetFlags(log.Lshortfile)

    conf := &tls.Config{
         //InsecureSkipVerify: true,
    }

    conn, err := tls.Dial("tcp", "127.0.0.1:443", conf)
    if err != nil {
        log.Println(err)
        return
    }
    defer conn.Close()

    n, err := conn.Write([]byte("hello\n"))
    if err != nil {
        log.Println(n, err)
        return
    }

    buf := make([]byte, 100)
    n, err = conn.Read(buf)
    if err != nil {
        log.Println(n, err)
        return
    }

    println(string(buf[:n]))
}
package main

import (
    "crypto/tls"
    "log"
    "net/http"
)

func main() {
    mux := http.NewServeMux()
    mux.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
        w.Header().Add("Strict-Transport-Security", "max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains")
        w.Write([]byte("This is an example server.\n"))
    })
    cfg := &tls.Config{
        MinVersion:               tls.VersionTLS12,
        CurvePreferences:         []tls.CurveID{tls.CurveP521, tls.CurveP384, tls.CurveP256},
        PreferServerCipherSuites: true,
        CipherSuites: []uint16{
            tls.TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384,
            tls.TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,
            tls.TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384,
            tls.TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,
        },
    }
    srv := &http.Server{
        Addr:         ":443",
        Handler:      mux,
        TLSConfig:    cfg,
        TLSNextProto: make(map[string]func(*http.Server, *tls.Conn, http.Handler), 0),
    }
    log.Fatal(srv.ListenAndServeTLS("tls.crt", "tls.key"))
}

Generation of self-sign a certificate with a private (.key) and public key (PEM-encodings .pem|.crt) in one command:

# ECDSA recommendation key ≥ secp384r1
# List ECDSA the supported curves (openssl ecparam -list_curves)
openssl req -x509 -nodes -newkey ec:secp384r1 -keyout server.ecdsa.key -out server.ecdsa.crt -days 3650
# openssl req -x509 -nodes -newkey ec:<(openssl ecparam -name secp384r1) -keyout server.ecdsa.key -out server.ecdsa.crt -days 3650
# -pkeyopt ec_paramgen_curve:… / ec:<(openssl ecparam -name …) / -newkey ec:…
ln -sf server.ecdsa.key server.key
ln -sf server.ecdsa.crt server.crt

# RSA recommendation key ≥ 2048-bit
openssl req -x509 -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout server.rsa.key -out server.rsa.crt -days 3650
ln -sf server.rsa.key server.key
ln -sf server.rsa.crt server.crt
  • .crt — Alternate synonymous most common among *nix systems .pem (pubkey).
  • .csr — Certficate Signing Requests (synonymous most common among *nix systems).
  • .cer — Microsoft alternate form of .crt, you can use MS to convert .crt to .cer (DER encoded .cer, or base64[PEM] encoded .cer).
  • .pem = The PEM extension is used for different types of X.509v3 files which contain ASCII (Base64) armored data prefixed with a «—– BEGIN …» line. These files may also bear the cer or the crt extension.
  • .der — The DER extension is used for binary DER encoded certificates.

Generating the Certficate Signing Request

openssl req -new -sha256 -key server.key -out server.csr
openssl x509 -req -sha256 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crt -days 3650

ECDSA & RSA — FAQ

  • Validate the elliptic curve parameters -check
  • List "ECDSA" the supported curves openssl ecparam -list_curves
  • Encoding to explicit "ECDSA" -param_enc explicit
  • Conversion form to compressed "ECDSA" -conv_form compressed
  • "EC" parameters and a private key -genkey

CA Bundle Path

Distro Package Path to CA
Fedora, RHEL, CentOS ca-certificates /etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt
Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo, Arch Linux ca-certificates /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
SUSE, openSUSE ca-certificates /etc/ssl/ca-bundle.pem
FreeBSD ca_root_nss /usr/local/share/certs/ca-root-nss.crt
Cygwin - /usr/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt
macOS (MacPorts) curl-ca-bundle /opt/local/share/curl/curl-ca-bundle.crt
Default cURL CA bunde path (without --with-ca-bundle option) /usr/local/share/curl/curl-ca-bundle.crt
Really old RedHat? /usr/share/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt

Reference Link

@kznLeaf
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kznLeaf commented Apr 10, 2026

For those in 2026: I found a script here , which generates all the necessary files for a self-signed certificate, and it works well for me.

For local development, simply set the SAN to localhost. Save the code below as gencert.sh:

 #!/bin/bash
mkdir -p ssl

cat << EOF > ssl/req.cnf

[req]
req_extensions = v3_req
distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name

[req_distinguished_name]

[ v3_req ]
basicConstraints = CA:FALSE
keyUsage = nonRepudiation, digitalSignature, keyEncipherment
subjectAltName = @alt_names

[alt_names]
DNS.1 = localhost
EOF

openssl genrsa -out ssl/ca-key.pem 2048

openssl req -x509 -new -nodes -key ssl/ca-key.pem -days 100 -out ssl/ca.pem -subj "/CN=kube-ca"

openssl genrsa -out ssl/key.pem 2048

openssl req -new -key ssl/key.pem -out ssl/csr.pem -subj "/CN=localhost" -config ssl/req.cnf

openssl x509 -req -in ssl/csr.pem \
  -CA ssl/ca.pem -CAkey ssl/ca-key.pem \
  -CAcreateserial -out ssl/cert.pem \
  -days 365 -extensions v3_req -extfile ssl/req.cnf

Run the script:

chmod +x gencert.sh && ./gencert.sh

This will run the below steps:

  1. Generate req.cnf
  2. Generate ca-key.pem(root private key) and ca.pem(CA root certificate)
  3. Generate server private key key.pem and CSR file csr.pem
  4. Use ca.pem and ca-key.pem to sign csr.pem, generate cert.pem, which is your server's certificate.

To check detailed information about the certificate:

openssl x509 -in ssl/cert.pem -noout -text

Last step: If you are using Firefox, just add ca.pem to Settings>Certificates>Authorities(No browser restart required) and check This certificate can identify websites. This will trust your CA certificate.

Since ca.pem is now a trusted Authority, any server certificate signed by it (like your cert.pem) will be automatically trusted by Firefox.

Then you can start your server:

err := http.ListenAndServeTLS(":8080", "ssl/cert.pem", "ssl/key.pem", nil)
if err != nil {
	log.Fatal("ListenAndServe: ", err)
}

Now, access https://localhost:8080/ in Firefox and you should see the response.


Note:

  • Avoid using curl in your terminal to verify this, as curl typically uses the system's trust store. Firefox maintains its own independent CA store.
  • Do not use CA's certificate as your server's certFile, or you will see error code MOZILLA_PKIX_ERROR_CA_CERT_USED_AS_END_ENTITY in Firefox. This is because a CA certificate is designed to issue certificates for other servers, rather than being used as a server certificate itself.

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