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doc: subkey documentation (#9639)
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* doc: convert the adoc to md
* add ref to UncheckedExtrinsic
* Add references to the SS58 format
* Add details about the inspect command
* removing command that is no longer available
* reorder display so ss58 representations show up next to each other
* remove deprecated section
* Add doc about the password option
* fix fmt
* minor fixes

fix #6613

Co-authored-by: Kian Paimani <5588131+kianenigma@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Squirrel <gilescope@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: David <dvdplm@gmail.com>
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91 changes: 0 additions & 91 deletions bin/utils/subkey/README.adoc

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209 changes: 208 additions & 1 deletion bin/utils/subkey/README.md
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License: GPL-3.0-or-later WITH Classpath-exception-2.0
# Subkey

Subkey is a commandline utility included with Substrate. It allows generating and restoring keys for Substrate based chains such as Polkadot, Kusama and a growing number of parachains and Substrate based projects.

`subkey` provides a few sub-commands to generate keys, check keys, sign messages, verify messages, etc...

You can see the full list of commands with `subkey --help`. Most commands have additional help available with for instance `subkey generate --help` for the `generate` command.

## Satefy first

`subkey` does not need an internet connection to work. Indeed, for the best security, you should be using `subkey` on a machine that is **not connected** to the internet.

`subkey` deals with **seeds** and **private keys**. Make sure to use `subkey` in a safe environment (ie. no one looking over your shoulder) and on a safe computer (ie. no one able to check you commands history).

If you save any output of `subkey` into a file, make sure to apply proper permissions and/or delete the file as soon as possible.

## Usage

The following guide explains *some* of the `subkey` commands. For the full list and the most up to date documentation, make sure to check the integrated help with `subkey --help`.

### Generate a random account

Generating a new key is as simple as running:

subkey generate

The output looks similar to:

```
Secret phrase `hotel forest jar hover kite book view eight stuff angle legend defense` is account:
Secret seed: 0xa05c75731970cc7868a2fb7cb577353cd5b31f62dccced92c441acd8fee0c92d
Public key (hex): 0xfec70cfbf1977c6965b5af10a4534a6a35d548eb14580594d0bc543286892515
Account ID: 0xfec70cfbf1977c6965b5af10a4534a6a35d548eb14580594d0bc543286892515
SS58 Address: 5Hpm9fq3W3dQgwWpAwDS2ZHKAdnk86QRCu7iX4GnmDxycrte
```

---
☠️ DO NT RE-USE ANY OF THE SEEDS AND SECRETS FROM THIS PAGE ☠️.

You can read more about security and risks in [SECURITY.md](./SECURITY.md) and in the [Polkadot Wiki](https://wiki.polkadot.network/docs/learn-account-generation).

---

The output above shows a **secret phrase** (also called **mnemonic phrase**) and the **secret seed** (also called **Private Key**). Those 2 secrets are the pieces of information you MUST keep safe and secret. All the other information below can be derived from those secrets.

The output above also show the **public key** and the **Account ID**. Those are the independant from the network where you will use the key.

The **SS58 address** (or **Public Address**) of a new account is a reprensentation of the public keys of an account for a given network (for instance Kusama or Polkadot).

You can read more about the SS58 format in the [substrate wiki](https://github.com/paritytech/substrate/wiki/External-Address-Format-(SS58)) and see the list of reserved prefixes in the [Polkadot wiki](https://wiki.polkadot.network/docs/build-ss58-registry).

For instance, considering the previous seed `0xa05c75731970cc7868a2fb7cb577353cd5b31f62dccced92c441acd8fee0c92d` the SS58 addresses are:
- Polkadot: `16m4J167Mptt8UXL8aGSAi7U2FnPpPxZHPrCgMG9KJzVoFqM`
- Kusama: `JLNozAv8QeLSbLFwe2UvWeKKE4yvmDbfGxTuiYkF2BUMx4M`

### Json output

`subkey` can calso generate the output as *json*. This is useful for automation.

command:
```
subkey generate --output-type json
```

output:
```
{
"accountId": "0xfec70cfbf1977c6965b5af10a4534a6a35d548eb14580594d0bc543286892515",
"publicKey": "0xfec70cfbf1977c6965b5af10a4534a6a35d548eb14580594d0bc543286892515",
"secretPhrase": "hotel forest jar hover kite book view eight stuff angle legend defense",
"secretSeed": "0xa05c75731970cc7868a2fb7cb577353cd5b31f62dccced92c441acd8fee0c92d",
"ss58Address": "5Hpm9fq3W3dQgwWpAwDS2ZHKAdnk86QRCu7iX4GnmDxycrte"
}
```

So if you only want to get the `secretSeed` for instance, you can use:

command:
```
subkey generate --output-type json | jq -r .secretSeed
```

output:
```
0xa05c75731970cc7868a2fb7cb577353cd5b31f62dccced92c441acd8fee0c92d
```

### Additional user-defined password

`subkey` supports an additional user-defined secret that will be appended to the seed. Let's see the following example:

subkey generate --password extra_secret

output:
```
Secret phrase `soup lyrics media market way crouch elevator put moon useful question wide` is account:
Secret seed: 0xe7cfd179d6537a676cb94bac3b5c5c9cb1550e846ac4541040d077dfbac2e7fd
Public key (hex): 0xf6a233c3e1de1a2ae0486100b460b3ce3d7231ddfe9dadabbd35ab968c70905d
Account ID: 0xf6a233c3e1de1a2ae0486100b460b3ce3d7231ddfe9dadabbd35ab968c70905d
SS58 Address: 5He5pZpc7AJ8evPuab37vJF6KkFDqq9uDq2WXh877Qw6iaVC
```

Using the `inspect` command (see more details below), we see that knowning only the **secret seed** is no longer sufficient to recover the account:

subkey inspect "soup lyrics media market way crouch elevator put moon useful question wide"

which recovers the account `5Fe4sqj2K4fRuzEGvToi4KATqZfiDU7TqynjXG6PZE2dxwyh` and not `5He5pZpc7AJ8evPuab37vJF6KkFDqq9uDq2WXh877Qw6iaVC` as we expected. The additional user-defined **password** (`extra_secret` in our example) is now required to fully recover the account. Let's inspect the the previous mnemonic, this time passing also the required `password` as shown below:

subkey inspect --password extra_secret "soup lyrics media market way crouch elevator put moon useful question wide"

This time, we properly recovered `5He5pZpc7AJ8evPuab37vJF6KkFDqq9uDq2WXh877Qw6iaVC`.

### Inspecting a key

If you have *some data* about a key, `subkey inpsect` will help you discover more information about it.

If you have **secrets** that you would like to verify for instance, you can use:

subkey inspect < mnemonic | seed >

If you have only **public data**, you can see a subset of the information:

subkey inspect --public < pubkey | address >

**NOTE**: While you will be able to recover the secret seed from the mnemonic, the opposite is not possible.

**NOTE**: For obvious reasons, the **secrets** cannot be recovered from passing **public data** such as `pubkey` or `address` as input.

command:
```
subkey inspect 0xa05c75731970cc7868a2fb7cb577353cd5b31f62dccced92c441acd8fee0c92d
```

output:
```
Secret Key URI `0xa05c75731970cc7868a2fb7cb577353cd5b31f62dccced92c441acd8fee0c92d` is account:
Secret seed: 0xa05c75731970cc7868a2fb7cb577353cd5b31f62dccced92c441acd8fee0c92d
Public key (hex): 0xfec70cfbf1977c6965b5af10a4534a6a35d548eb14580594d0bc543286892515
Account ID: 0xfec70cfbf1977c6965b5af10a4534a6a35d548eb14580594d0bc543286892515
SS58 Address: 5Hpm9fq3W3dQgwWpAwDS2ZHKAdnk86QRCu7iX4GnmDxycrte
```

### Signing

`subkey` allows using a **secret key** to sign a random message. The signature can then be verified by anyone using your **public key**:

echo -n <msg> | subkey sign --suri <seed|mnemonic>

example:

MESSAGE=hello
SURI=0xa05c75731970cc7868a2fb7cb577353cd5b31f62dccced92c441acd8fee0c92d
echo -n $MESSAGE | subkey sign --suri $SURI

output:

9201af3788ad4f986b800853c79da47155f2e08fde2070d866be4c27ab060466fea0623dc2b51f4392f4c61f25381a62848dd66c5d8217fae3858e469ebd668c

**NOTE**: Each run of the `sign` command will yield a different output. While each signature is different, they are all valid.

### Verifying a signature

Given a message, a signature and an address, `subkey` can verify whether the **message** has been digitally signed by the holder (or one of the holders) of the **private key** for the given **address**:

echo -n <msg> | subkey verify <sig> <address>

example:

MESSAGE=hello
URI=0xfec70cfbf1977c6965b5af10a4534a6a35d548eb14580594d0bc543286892515
SIGNATURE=9201af3788ad4f986b800853c79da47155f2e08fde2070d866be4c27ab060466fea0623dc2b51f4392f4c61f25381a62848dd66c5d8217fae3858e469ebd668c
echo -n $MESSAGE | subkey verify $SIGNATURE $URI

output:

Signature verifies correctly.

A failure looks like:

Error: SignatureInvalid

### Using the vanity generator

You can use the included vanity generator to find a seed that provides an address which includes the desired pattern. Be warned, depending on your hardware this may take a while.

command:
```
subkey vanity --network polkadot --pattern bob
```

output:
```
Generating key containing pattern 'bob'
best: 190 == top: 189
Secret Key URI `0x8c9a73097f235b84021a446bc2826a00c690ea0be3e0d81a84931cb4146d6691` is account:
Secret seed: 0x8c9a73097f235b84021a446bc2826a00c690ea0be3e0d81a84931cb4146d6691
Public key (hex): 0x1a8b32e95c1f571118ea0b84801264c3c70f823e320d099e5de31b9b1f18f843
Account ID: 0x1a8b32e95c1f571118ea0b84801264c3c70f823e320d099e5de31b9b1f18f843
SS58 Address: 1bobYxBPjZWRPbVo35aSwci1u5Zmq8P6J2jpa4kkudBZMqE
```

`Bob` now got a nice address starting with his name: 1**bob**YxBPjZWRPbVo35aSwci1u5Zmq8P6J2jpa4kkudBZMqE.

**Note**: While `Bob`, having a short name (3 chars), got a result rather quickly, it will take much longer for `Alice` who has a much longer name, thus the chances to generate a random address that contains the chain `alice` will be much smaller.

## License

License: GPL-3.0-or-later WITH Classpath-exception-2.0
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# Keys and Security

The following information is not exhaustive but meant to prevent the most common mistakes.
You can read more about security and risks in the [Polkadot Wiki](https://wiki.polkadot.network/docs/learn-account-generation).
The Polkadot network has a few **test networks**, e.g. **Westend**. Test networks are a great way to experiment and learn safely as you can lose tokens on those networks without any financial consequences.

`subkey` generates and provides 2 pieces of **secret** information:
- **secret phrase**: a bunch of words, exactly 12 by default (can be 12, 15, 18, 21 or 24)
- **secret seed**: a big hexadecimal value

There are 2 risks related to private keys:
- loss of keys: this can happen if you don't have a proper backup
- leak of the keys: this can unfortunately happen in many ways, including malware, phishing, key logger, backups on system that are online and not properly secured

You want to ensure that:
- you **do not lose** those secrets
- **no one but you can access** those secrets

☠️ **DO NOT SHARE** your mnemonic phrase or secret seed with ANYONE under **ANY** circumstances. Doing so would give them access to your funds and to send transactions on your behalf.

☠️ If someone is asking for your **secret** phrase or **secret** seed, you can be **SURE** they are attempting to steal your funds.

✅ It is however fine to share your **SS58 Address** as this is meant to be public information and is needed by anyone you want to be able to make transfer to or otherwise interact with your account. They will only ever need your **Public Address**.

⚠️ While using the same key on multiple networks is possible, it is usually **not** recommended unless you have good motivations for doing so and understand the associated risks and drawbacks.

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