Class CertPath
- java.lang.Object
-
- java.security.cert.CertPath
- All Implemented Interfaces:
Serializable
public abstract class CertPath extends Object implements Serializable
An immutable sequence of certificates (a certification path).
This is an abstract class that defines the methods common to all CertPath
s. Subclasses can handle different kinds of certificates (X.509, PGP, etc.).
All CertPath
objects have a type, a list of Certificate
s, and one or more supported encodings. Because the CertPath
class is immutable, a CertPath
cannot change in any externally visible way after being constructed. This stipulation applies to all public fields and methods of this class and any added or overridden by subclasses.
The type is a String
that identifies the type of Certificate
s in the certification path. For each certificate cert
in a certification path certPath
, cert.getType().equals(certPath.getType())
must be true
.
The list of Certificate
s is an ordered List
of zero or more Certificate
s. This List
and all of the Certificate
s contained in it must be immutable.
Each CertPath
object must support one or more encodings so that the object can be translated into a byte array for storage or transmission to other parties. Preferably, these encodings should be well-documented standards (such as PKCS#7). One of the encodings supported by a CertPath
is considered the default encoding. This encoding is used if no encoding is explicitly requested (for the getEncoded()
method, for instance).
All CertPath
objects are also Serializable
. CertPath
objects are resolved into an alternate CertPathRep
object during serialization. This allows a CertPath
object to be serialized into an equivalent representation regardless of its underlying implementation.
CertPath
objects can be created with a CertificateFactory
or they can be returned by other classes, such as a CertPathBuilder
.
By convention, X.509 CertPath
s (consisting of X509Certificate
s), are ordered starting with the target certificate and ending with a certificate issued by the trust anchor. That is, the issuer of one certificate is the subject of the following one. The certificate representing the TrustAnchor
should not be included in the certification path. Unvalidated X.509 CertPath
s may not follow these conventions. PKIX CertPathValidator
s will detect any departure from these conventions that cause the certification path to be invalid and throw a CertPathValidatorException
.
Every implementation of the Java platform is required to support the following standard CertPath
encodings:
PKCS7
PkiPath
Concurrent Access
All CertPath
objects must be thread-safe. That is, multiple threads may concurrently invoke the methods defined in this class on a single CertPath
object (or more than one) with no ill effects. This is also true for the List
returned by CertPath.getCertificates
.
Requiring CertPath
objects to be immutable and thread-safe allows them to be passed around to various pieces of code without worrying about coordinating access. Providing this thread-safety is generally not difficult, since the CertPath
and List
objects in question are immutable.
- Since:
- 1.4
- See Also:
-
CertificateFactory
,CertPathBuilder
, Serialized Form
Nested Class Summary
Modifier and Type | Class | Description |
---|---|---|
protected static class | CertPath.CertPathRep | Alternate |
Constructor Summary
Modifier | Constructor | Description |
---|---|---|
protected | CertPath(String type) | Creates a |
Method Summary
Modifier and Type | Method | Description |
---|---|---|
boolean | equals(Object other) | Compares this certification path for equality with the specified object. |
abstract List<? extends Certificate> | getCertificates() | Returns the list of certificates in this certification path. |
abstract byte[] | getEncoded() | Returns the encoded form of this certification path, using the default encoding. |
abstract byte[] | getEncoded(String encoding) | Returns the encoded form of this certification path, using the specified encoding. |
abstract Iterator<String> | getEncodings() | Returns an iteration of the encodings supported by this certification path, with the default encoding first. |
String | getType() | Returns the type of |
int | hashCode() | Returns the hashcode for this certification path. |
String | toString() | Returns a string representation of this certification path. |
protected Object | writeReplace() | Replaces the |
Methods declared in class java.lang.Object
clone, finalize, getClass, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait
Constructor Detail
CertPath
protected CertPath(String type)
Creates a CertPath
of the specified type.
This constructor is protected because most users should use a CertificateFactory
to create CertPath
s.
- Parameters:
-
type
- the standard name of the type ofCertificate
s in this path
Method Detail
getType
public String getType()
Returns the type of Certificate
s in this certification path. This is the same string that would be returned by cert.getType()
for all Certificate
s in the certification path.
- Returns:
- the type of
Certificate
s in this certification path (never null)
getEncodings
public abstract Iterator<String> getEncodings()
Returns an iteration of the encodings supported by this certification path, with the default encoding first. Attempts to modify the returned Iterator
via its remove
method result in an UnsupportedOperationException
.
- Returns:
- an
Iterator
over the names of the supported encodings (as Strings)
equals
public boolean equals(Object other)
Compares this certification path for equality with the specified object. Two CertPath
s are equal if and only if their types are equal and their certificate List
s (and by implication the Certificate
s in those List
s) are equal. A CertPath
is never equal to an object that is not a CertPath
.
This algorithm is implemented by this method. If it is overridden, the behavior specified here must be maintained.
- Overrides:
-
equals
in classObject
- Parameters:
-
other
- the object to test for equality with this certification path - Returns:
- true if the specified object is equal to this certification path, false otherwise
- See Also:
-
Object.hashCode()
,HashMap
hashCode
public int hashCode()
Returns the hashcode for this certification path. The hash code of a certification path is defined to be the result of the following calculation:
hashCode = path.getType().hashCode(); hashCode = 31*hashCode + path.getCertificates().hashCode();This ensures that
path1.equals(path2)
implies that path1.hashCode()==path2.hashCode()
for any two certification paths, path1
and path2
, as required by the general contract of Object.hashCode
. - Overrides:
-
hashCode
in classObject
- Returns:
- the hashcode value for this certification path
- See Also:
-
Object.equals(java.lang.Object)
,System.identityHashCode(java.lang.Object)
toString
public String toString()
Returns a string representation of this certification path. This calls the toString
method on each of the Certificate
s in the path.
getEncoded
public abstract byte[] getEncoded() throws CertificateEncodingException
Returns the encoded form of this certification path, using the default encoding.
- Returns:
- the encoded bytes
- Throws:
-
CertificateEncodingException
- if an encoding error occurs
getEncoded
public abstract byte[] getEncoded(String encoding) throws CertificateEncodingException
Returns the encoded form of this certification path, using the specified encoding.
- Parameters:
-
encoding
- the name of the encoding to use - Returns:
- the encoded bytes
- Throws:
-
CertificateEncodingException
- if an encoding error occurs or the encoding requested is not supported
getCertificates
public abstract List<? extends Certificate> getCertificates()
Returns the list of certificates in this certification path. The List
returned must be immutable and thread-safe.
- Returns:
- an immutable
List
ofCertificate
s (may be empty, but not null)
writeReplace
protected Object writeReplace() throws ObjectStreamException
Replaces the CertPath
to be serialized with a CertPathRep
object.
- Returns:
- the
CertPathRep
to be serialized - Throws:
-
ObjectStreamException
- if aCertPathRep
object representing this certification path could not be created