https://openjdk.java.net/ 
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package java.security;

import java.io.*;
import java.util.Date;


This is an interface of abstract methods for managing a
variety of identity certificates.
An identity certificate is a guarantee by a principal that
a public key is that of another principal.  (A principal represents
an entity such as an individual user, a group, or a corporation.)

In particular, this interface is intended to be a common
abstraction for constructs that have different formats but
important common uses.  For example, different types of
certificates, such as X.509 certificates and PGP certificates,
share general certificate functionality (the need to encode and
decode certificates) and some types of information, such as a
public key, the principal whose key it is, and the guarantor
guaranteeing that the public key is that of the specified
principal. So an implementation of X.509 certificates and an
implementation of PGP certificates can both utilize the Certificate
interface, even though their formats and additional types and
amounts of information stored are different.

Important: This interface is useful for cataloging and
grouping objects sharing certain common uses. It does not have any
semantics of its own. In particular, a Certificate object does not
make any statement as to the validity of the binding. It is
the duty of the application implementing this interface to verify
the certificate and satisfy itself of its validity.

Author:Benjamin Renaud
See Also:
Deprecated:A new certificate handling package is created in the Java platform.
            This Certificate interface is entirely deprecated and
            is here to allow for a smooth transition to the new
            package.
/**
 * <p>This is an interface of abstract methods for managing a
 * variety of identity certificates.
 * An identity certificate is a guarantee by a principal that
 * a public key is that of another principal.  (A principal represents
 * an entity such as an individual user, a group, or a corporation.)
 *
 * <p>In particular, this interface is intended to be a common
 * abstraction for constructs that have different formats but
 * important common uses.  For example, different types of
 * certificates, such as X.509 certificates and PGP certificates,
 * share general certificate functionality (the need to encode and
 * decode certificates) and some types of information, such as a
 * public key, the principal whose key it is, and the guarantor
 * guaranteeing that the public key is that of the specified
 * principal. So an implementation of X.509 certificates and an
 * implementation of PGP certificates can both utilize the Certificate
 * interface, even though their formats and additional types and
 * amounts of information stored are different.
 *
 * <p><b>Important</b>: This interface is useful for cataloging and
 * grouping objects sharing certain common uses. It does not have any
 * semantics of its own. In particular, a Certificate object does not
 * make any statement as to the <i>validity</i> of the binding. It is
 * the duty of the application implementing this interface to verify
 * the certificate and satisfy itself of its validity.
 *
 * @author Benjamin Renaud
 * @deprecated A new certificate handling package is created in the Java platform.
 *             This Certificate interface is entirely deprecated and
 *             is here to allow for a smooth transition to the new
 *             package.
 * @see java.security.cert.Certificate
 */
@Deprecated
public interface Certificate {

    
Returns the guarantor of the certificate, that is, the principal
guaranteeing that the public key associated with this certificate
is that of the principal associated with this certificate. For X.509
certificates, the guarantor will typically be a Certificate Authority
(such as the United States Postal Service or Verisign, Inc.).

Returns:the guarantor which guaranteed the principal-key
binding.
/**
     * Returns the guarantor of the certificate, that is, the principal
     * guaranteeing that the public key associated with this certificate
     * is that of the principal associated with this certificate. For X.509
     * certificates, the guarantor will typically be a Certificate Authority
     * (such as the United States Postal Service or Verisign, Inc.).
     *
     * @return the guarantor which guaranteed the principal-key
     * binding.
     */
    public abstract Principal getGuarantor();

    
Returns the principal of the principal-key pair being guaranteed by
the guarantor.

Returns:the principal to which this certificate is bound.
/**
     * Returns the principal of the principal-key pair being guaranteed by
     * the guarantor.
     *
     * @return the principal to which this certificate is bound.
     */
    public abstract Principal getPrincipal();

    
Returns the key of the principal-key pair being guaranteed by
the guarantor.

Returns:the public key that this certificate certifies belongs
to a particular principal.
/**
     * Returns the key of the principal-key pair being guaranteed by
     * the guarantor.
     *
     * @return the public key that this certificate certifies belongs
     * to a particular principal.
     */
    public abstract PublicKey getPublicKey();

    
Encodes the certificate to an output stream in a format that can be decoded by the decode method. 
Params:
  • stream – the output stream to which to encode the
certificate.
Throws:
  • KeyException – if the certificate is not
properly initialized, or data is missing, etc.
  • IOException – if a stream exception occurs while
trying to output the encoded certificate to the output stream.
See Also:
/**
     * Encodes the certificate to an output stream in a format that can
     * be decoded by the {@code decode} method.
     *
     * @param stream the output stream to which to encode the
     * certificate.
     *
     * @exception KeyException if the certificate is not
     * properly initialized, or data is missing, etc.
     *
     * @exception IOException if a stream exception occurs while
     * trying to output the encoded certificate to the output stream.
     *
     * @see #decode
     * @see #getFormat
     */
    public abstract void encode(OutputStream stream)
        throws KeyException, IOException;

    
Decodes a certificate from an input stream. The format should be that returned by getFormat and produced by encode. 
Params:
  • stream – the input stream from which to fetch the data
being decoded.
Throws:
  • KeyException – if the certificate is not properly initialized,
or data is missing, etc.
  • IOException – if an exception occurs while trying to input
the encoded certificate from the input stream.
See Also:
/**
     * Decodes a certificate from an input stream. The format should be
     * that returned by {@code getFormat} and produced by
     * {@code encode}.
     *
     * @param stream the input stream from which to fetch the data
     * being decoded.
     *
     * @exception KeyException if the certificate is not properly initialized,
     * or data is missing, etc.
     *
     * @exception IOException if an exception occurs while trying to input
     * the encoded certificate from the input stream.
     *
     * @see #encode
     * @see #getFormat
     */
    public abstract void decode(InputStream stream)
        throws KeyException, IOException;


    
Returns the name of the coding format. This is used as a hint to find an appropriate parser. It could be "X.509", "PGP", etc. This is the format produced and understood by the encode and decode methods. 
Returns:the name of the coding format.
/**
     * Returns the name of the coding format. This is used as a hint to find
     * an appropriate parser. It could be "X.509", "PGP", etc. This is
     * the format produced and understood by the {@code encode}
     * and {@code decode} methods.
     *
     * @return the name of the coding format.
     */
    public abstract String getFormat();

    
Returns a string that represents the contents of the certificate.

Params:
  • detailed – whether or not to give detailed information
about the certificate
Returns:a string representing the contents of the certificate
/**
     * Returns a string that represents the contents of the certificate.
     *
     * @param detailed whether or not to give detailed information
     * about the certificate
     *
     * @return a string representing the contents of the certificate
     */
    public String toString(boolean detailed);
}