---
name: "tarsnap-keygen"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "tarsnap"
version: "1.0.41-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/tarsnap-keygen"
---

# tarsnap-keygen(1)

generate a key file for use with tarsnap(1)

## NAME

**tarsnap-keygen** – generate a key file for use with [tarsnap(1)](/tarsnap/1.md)

## SYNOPSIS

**tarsnap-keygen** **--keyfile** *key-file* **--user** *user-name* **--machine** *machine-name* \[**--passphrased**\] \[**--passphrase-mem** *maxmem*\] \[**--passphrase-time** *maxtime*\]

**tarsnap-keygen** **--version**

## DESCRIPTION

**tarsnap-keygen** generates cryptographic keys, registers with the tarsnap server, and writes a key file for use with [tarsnap(1)](/tarsnap/1.md).

The **--keyfile** *key-file* option specifies the name of the file in which to write the newly-generated keys. The **--user** *user-name* option specifies the name (i.e. email address) of the Tarsnap account. The **--machine** *machine-name* option specifies a name which will be displayed in accounting reports so that you can see how much data each machine is storing.

If the **--passphrased** option is specified, the user will be prompted to enter a passphrase (twice) to be used to encrypt the key file.

If the **--passphrase-mem** *maxmem* option is specified, a maximum of *maxmem* bytes of RAM will be used in the scrypt key derivation function to encrypt the key file; it may be necessary to set this option if a key file is being generated on a system with far more RAM than the system on which the key file will be used.

If the **--passphrase-time** *maxtime* option is specified, a maximum of approximately *maxtime* seconds will be used in the scrypt key derivation function to encrypt the key file.

The **--version** option prints the version number of **tarsnap-keygen**, then exits.