/* * @(#)KeySpec.java 1.17 03/12/19 * * Copyright 2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. * SUN PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms. */ package java.security.spec; /** * A (transparent) specification of the key material * that constitutes a cryptographic key. * *

If the key is stored on a hardware device, its * specification may contain information that helps identify the key on the * device. * *

A key may be specified in an algorithm-specific way, or in an * algorithm-independent encoding format (such as ASN.1). * For example, a DSA private key may be specified by its components * x, p, q, and g * (see {@link DSAPrivateKeySpec}), or it may be * specified using its DER encoding * (see {@link PKCS8EncodedKeySpec}). * *

This interface contains no methods or constants. Its only purpose * is to group (and provide type safety for) all key specifications. * All key specifications must implement this interface. * * @author Jan Luehe * * @version 1.17, 12/19/03 * * @see java.security.Key * @see java.security.KeyFactory * @see EncodedKeySpec * @see X509EncodedKeySpec * @see PKCS8EncodedKeySpec * @see DSAPrivateKeySpec * @see DSAPublicKeySpec * * @since 1.2 */ public interface KeySpec { }