certdoctorReports and formats
One run, four ways to keep what it found, and a mask for the parts that should not leave the building.
Four formats
| Format | Switch | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| terminal | the default | the report as you read it, 100 columns wide, in colour when the output is a terminal |
| Markdown | --format md | the same report for a ticket or a chat |
| HTML | --format html | one self-contained page, with no script in it and nothing fetched from anywhere |
| JSON | --format json, or --json | the report as data, checked against its schema before it is printed |
Every format carries the same findings. A report written in one says nothing another would leave out.
Writing to a file
--out writes the report to the path you give instead of printing it:
certdoctor https://api.example.com/ --format html --out report.html
This is the only file certdoctor ever writes. If it cannot be written - no space, no permission - the run ends with exit code 6 and says why.
Masking internal names
A report holds internal host names, file system paths and user names, because that is what makes it useful in a ticket. --redact masks them:
certdoctor https://api.example.com/ --redact --format md --out report.md
Credentials are different. Proxy passwords, authorization headers and cookies are masked always, with or without --redact, because a mask that depends on a switch is one forgotten switch away from a leak.
Read a report before you paste it somewhere public. Masking is a filter, not a guarantee.
A page from a saved report
--from takes a report saved earlier with --json and writes it again in another format, without running anything:
certdoctor https://api.example.com/ --json --out report.json
certdoctor --from report.json --format html --out report.html
A single dash reads the JSON from standard input. --from ends with exit code 0 once the page is written, whatever the report found, and the run’s own verdict stays in the report.
The JSON schema
certdoctor --version prints the version of the tool and of the report schema it emits, so a JSON file from six months ago still says what produced it:
certdoctor --version