A class for building certification paths (also known as certificate chains).

This class uses a provider-based architecture. To create a CertPathBuilder, call one of the static getInstance methods, passing in the algorithm name of the CertPathBuilder desired and optionally the name of the provider desired.

Once a CertPathBuilder object has been created, certification paths can be constructed by calling the build method and passing it an algorithm-specific set of parameters. If successful, the result (including the CertPath that was built) is returned in an object that implements the CertPathBuilderResult interface.

The getRevocationChecker() method allows an application to specify additional algorithm-specific parameters and options used by the CertPathBuilder when checking the revocation status of certificates. Here is an example demonstrating how it is used with the PKIX algorithm:

 CertPathBuilder cpb = CertPathBuilder.getInstance("PKIX");
 PKIXRevocationChecker rc = (PKIXRevocationChecker)cpb.getRevocationChecker();
 rc.setOptions(EnumSet.of(Option.PREFER_CRLS));
 params.addCertPathChecker(rc);
 CertPathBuilderResult cpbr = cpb.build(params);
 

Every implementation of the Java platform is required to support the following standard CertPathBuilder algorithm:

• PKIX

This algorithm is described in the CertPathBuilder section of the Java Security Standard Algorithm Names Specification. Consult the release documentation for your implementation to see if any other algorithms are supported.

Concurrent Access

The static methods of this class are guaranteed to be thread-safe. Multiple threads may concurrently invoke the static methods defined in this class with no ill effects.

However, this is not true for the non-static methods defined by this class. Unless otherwise documented by a specific provider, threads that need to access a single CertPathBuilder instance concurrently should synchronize amongst themselves and provide the necessary locking. Multiple threads each manipulating a different CertPathBuilder instance need not synchronize.