Character 6 - Creating a self-signed cert

jwtester · August 25th, 2009, 04:07 PM

I want to create a self-signed Version 1 Certificate.

I tried the example on Character 6 and it works, I think. (I did not get any errors and the output shows that everything is fine.)

My questions are:

Where is the certificate file? Is it stored in c:\??
What filename is used for this certificate?

dgh · August 25th, 2009, 06:18 PM

The example does not save the certificate to disk. To do that you need to store the bytes returned by the getEncoded() method on the certificate. Have a look at the CertificateFactoryExample to see how the output and recovery process works.

Regards,

David

jwtester · August 26th, 2009, 08:24 AM

Thanks. I will try the CertificateFactoryExample.

Chris07 · April 10th, 2010, 01:26 PM

I can't compile the v1, v3 and CertificateFactoryExample:
Following Exception:

Code:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.Error: Unresolved compilation problems: 
	The method setIssuerDN(X509Name) in the type X509V3CertificateGenerator is not applicable for the arguments (X500Principal)
	The method setSubjectDN(X509Name) in the type X509V3CertificateGenerator is not applicable for the arguments (X500Principal)

	at chapter6.X509V3CreateExample.generateV3Certificate(X509V3CreateExample.java:32)
	at chapter6.X509V3CreateExample.main(X509V3CreateExample.java:58)

A possible quick fix is to change the

Code:

setIssuerDN()

to

Code:

setIssuerUniqueID()

but it's also not compileable.

I'm using Eclipse SDK v3.5.2 Galileo

dgh · April 10th, 2010, 06:59 PM

You would only expect to see this if you were using a very old version of the BC API (pre book even) or you're using the JDK 1.3 version and trying to work with Java 1.4 or later.

What version of BC and Java are you using?

Regards,

David

Chris07 · April 11th, 2010, 04:09 AM

Even mentioned in the Book to use the JDK 1.3 and java 1.4 I thought the latest Java version should include the 1.4 standarts.
So I'm up to date with Java 1.6 and I'm using the latest JDK. The BC is also the latest crypto 1.4.5 package. What a falsity.
So the JDK should be not higher than 1.3 and running java 1.6 is acceptable?
And how about the BC version?
Thanks for your fast reply dgh
Regards

dgh · April 11th, 2010, 04:29 AM

If you're using JDK 1.6, bcprov-jdk16-145.jar, should work fine.

One other thing - the generator class you're using is in the package org.bouncycastle.x509 isn't it? This is how it's defined in the examples, however if you've used cut and paste and accidentally imported the deprecated class you won't find a method for handling an X500Principal.

Regards,

David

Chris07 · April 11th, 2010, 05:14 AM

Indeed, the

Code:

setIssuerDN

Method is fixed but the

Code:

X500Principal

cannot be resolved as a type. I imported the Project with all

Code:

chapter.packages

. And I switched the JDK to 1.3. If I switch back to 1.6 the

Code:

setIssuerDN

causes the problem and

Code:

X500Principal

looks fine. THAT's weird

dgh · April 11th, 2010, 05:45 AM

Yes, X500Principal only exists in JDK 1.4 and later. You need to check your classpath - it sounds like you might have two versions of the BC jar in your classpath. The alternative is your IDE has somehow imported the deprecated version of the generators.

If you look at the source for org.bouncycastle.x509.X509V3CertificateGenerator.j ava you will see there are methods for X500Principal.

Regards,

David

Chris07 · April 11th, 2010, 06:29 AM

Ja thx man,
i switched back to the jdk 1.6 and relinked the class_path variables in the environment to the jdk 1.6 folder. After that I had a look at the imported libraries jars and removed all duplicated jars (jre1.2 - jre 1.5) that jre 1.6 left over. BANG - the hole project appered CLEAR and compielable.
I appreciate your help
Thx again XD
Great Forum
Chris