this is on CentOS:
sudo openssl ca -in /opt/openssl/testCA/server/requests/testWEB.CSR -cert /opt/openssl/testCA/CA/testCA.CRT -keyfile /opt/openssl/testCA/CA/testCA.KEY -out /opt/openssl/testCA/server/certificates/testWEB.CRT
Using configuration from /etc/openssl.cnf
I am unable to access the /etc/openssl/testCA/certs directory
I tried creating the folders and files it wanted, what a mistake.
I finally found the proper thing to do is to find the install folder, such as /usr/share/src/openssl-1.0.0z
then copy the contents of apps/demoCA into wherever openssl is looking, eg for the example above,
cp -a /usr/share/src/openssl-1.0.0z/apps/demoCA/* /etc/openssl/testCA/certs/