---
name: "mkdhparams"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "courier-base"
version: "1.4.1-3+deb13u2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mkdhparams"
---

# mkdhparams(8)

Create new DH parameters for the Courier Mail Server

## NAME

mkdhparams - Create new DH parameters for the Courier Mail Server

## SYNOPSIS

**/usr/sbin/mkdhparams**

## DESCRIPTION

This script is intended to be executed from a cron job, monthly. If the file /etc/courier/dhparams.pem is older than 25 days, the script creates a new file. This file contains pregenerated DH parameters for the Courier Mail Server.

The **DH\_BITS** environment variable, if set controls the length of the generated DH parameters. It gets passed, verbatim, to either the **dhparam** OpenSSL command, or the **--sec-param** option to GnuTLS's **certtool**. The default value is 768 for OpenSSL, and “high” for GnuTLS.

## AUTHOR

**Sam Varshavchik**

Author