DSA, the Digital Signature Algorithm, is specified in NIST's FIPS 186-3. It is an asymmetric public key algorithm that may be used similar to e.g. RSA. Please note that for OpenSSL versions prior to 1.0.0 the digest algorithms OpenSSL::Digest::DSS (equivalent to SHA) or OpenSSL::Digest::DSS1 (equivalent to SHA-1) must be used for issuing signatures with a DSA key using OpenSSL::PKey#sign. Starting with OpenSSL 1.0.0, digest algorithms are no longer restricted, any Digest may be used for signing.