1 /* Key.java -- A abstract representation of a digital key 2 Copyright (C) 1998, 2000, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 3 4 This file is part of GNU Classpath. 5 6 GNU Classpath is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify 7 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by 8 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) 9 any later version. 10 11 GNU Classpath is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but 12 WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of 13 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU 14 General Public License for more details. 15 16 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License 17 along with GNU Classpath; see the file COPYING. If not, write to the 18 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 19 02111-1307 USA. 20 21 Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is 22 making a combined work based on this library. Thus, the terms and 23 conditions of the GNU General Public License cover the whole 24 combination. 25 26 As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you 27 permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an 28 executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent 29 modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under 30 terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked 31 independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that 32 module. An independent module is a module which is not derived from 33 or based on this library. If you modify this library, you may extend 34 this exception to your version of the library, but you are not 35 obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this 36 exception statement from your version. */ 37 38 package java.security; 39 40 import java.io.Serializable; 41 42 /** 43 * This interfaces models the base characteristics that all keys must 44 * have. These are: a key algorithm, an encoded form, and a format used 45 * to encode the key. Specific key types inherit from this interface. 46 * Note that since this interface extends <code>Serializable</code>, all 47 * keys may be serialized. Keys are generally obtained through key generators, 48 * including {@link KeyFactory}. 49 * 50 * @author Aaron M. Renn <arenn@urbanophile.com> 51 * @see PublicKey 52 * @see PrivateKey 53 * @see KeyPair 54 * @see KeyPairGenerator 55 * @see KeyFactory 56 * @see KeySpec 57 * @see Identity 58 * @see Signer 59 * @since 1.1 60 * @status updated to 1.4 61 */ 62 public interface Key extends Serializable 63 { 64 /** 65 * The version identifier used for serialization. 66 */ 67 long serialVersionUID = 6603384152749567654L; 68 69 /** 70 * This method returns the name of the algorithm for this key. This is a 71 * <code>String</code> such as "RSA". 72 * 73 * @return the name of the algorithm in use 74 */ getAlgorithm()75 String getAlgorithm(); 76 77 /** 78 * This method returns the name of the encoding format for this key. This 79 * is the name of the ASN.1 data format used for this key, such as 80 * "X.509" or "PKCS#8". This method returns <code>null</code> if this key 81 * does not have an encoding format. 82 * 83 * @return the name of the encoding format for this key, or null 84 */ getFormat()85 String getFormat(); 86 87 /** 88 * This method returns the encoded form of the key. If this key does not 89 * support encoding, this method returns <code>null</code>. 90 * 91 * @return the encoded form of the key, or null 92 */ getEncoded()93 byte[] getEncoded(); 94 } // interface Key 95