This Signature class is used to provide applications the functionality of a digital signature algorithm. Digital signatures are used for authentication and integrity assurance of digital data.

The signature algorithm can be, among others, the NIST standard DSA, using DSA and SHA-1. The DSA algorithm using the SHA-1 message digest algorithm can be specified as SHA1withDSA. In the case of RSA, there are multiple choices for the message digest algorithm, so the signing algorithm could be specified as, for example, MD2withRSA, MD5withRSA, or SHA1withRSA. The algorithm name must be specified, as there is no default.

Like other algorithm-based classes in Java Security, Signature provides implementation-independent algorithms, whereby a caller (application code) requests a particular signature algorithm and is handed back a properly initialized Signature object. It is also possible, if desired, to request a particular algorithm from a particular provider. See the getInstance methods.

Thus, there are two ways to request a Signature algorithm object: by specifying either just an algorithm name, or both an algorithm name and a package provider.

A Signature object can be used to generate and verify digital signatures.

There are three phases to the use of a Signature object for either signing data or verifying a signature:

  1. Initialization, with either
    • a public key, which initializes the signature for verification (see initVerify ), or
    • a private key (and optionally a Secure Random Number Generator), which initializes the signature for signing (see and ).

  2. Updating

    Depending on the type of initialization, this will update the bytes to be signed or verified. See the update methods.

  3. Signing or Verifying a signature on all updated bytes. See the #sign() sign methods and the verify method.

Note that this class is abstract and extends from SignatureSpi for historical reasons. Application developers should only take notice of the methods defined in this Signature class; all the methods in the superclass are intended for cryptographic service providers who wish to supply their own implementations of digital signature algorithms.

@author
Benjamin Renaud
@version
1.99, 05/18/04
Returns a clone if the implementation is cloneable.
Return
a clone if the implementation is cloneable.
Throws
CloneNotSupportedExceptionif this is called on an implementation that does not support Cloneable.
Indicates whether some other object is "equal to" this one.

The equals method implements an equivalence relation on non-null object references:

  • It is reflexive: for any non-null reference value x, x.equals(x) should return true.
  • It is symmetric: for any non-null reference values x and y, x.equals(y) should return true if and only if y.equals(x) returns true.
  • It is transitive: for any non-null reference values x, y, and z, if x.equals(y) returns true and y.equals(z) returns true, then x.equals(z) should return true.
  • It is consistent: for any non-null reference values x and y, multiple invocations of x.equals(y) consistently return true or consistently return false, provided no information used in equals comparisons on the objects is modified.
  • For any non-null reference value x, x.equals(null) should return false.

The equals method for class Object implements the most discriminating possible equivalence relation on objects; that is, for any non-null reference values x and y, this method returns true if and only if x and y refer to the same object (x == y has the value true).

Note that it is generally necessary to override the hashCode method whenever this method is overridden, so as to maintain the general contract for the hashCode method, which states that equal objects must have equal hash codes.

Parameters
objthe reference object with which to compare.
Return
true if this object is the same as the obj argument; false otherwise.
Returns the name of the algorithm for this signature object.
Return
the name of the algorithm for this signature object.
Returns the runtime class of an object. That Class object is the object that is locked by static synchronized methods of the represented class.
Return
The java.lang.Class object that represents the runtime class of the object. The result is of type {@code Class} where X is the erasure of the static type of the expression on which getClass is called.
Generates a Signature object that implements the specified digest algorithm. If the default provider package provides an implementation of the requested digest algorithm, an instance of Signature containing that implementation is returned. If the algorithm is not available in the default package, other packages are searched.
Parameters
algorithmthe standard name of the algorithm requested. See Appendix A in the Java Cryptography Architecture API Specification & Reference for information about standard algorithm names.
Return
the new Signature object.
Throws
NoSuchAlgorithmExceptionif the algorithm is not available in the environment.
Generates a Signature object implementing the specified algorithm, as supplied from the specified provider, if such an algorithm is available from the provider. Note: the provider doesn't have to be registered.
Parameters
algorithmthe name of the algorithm requested. See Appendix A in the Java Cryptography Architecture API Specification & Reference for information about standard algorithm names.
providerthe provider.
Return
the new Signature object.
Throws
NoSuchAlgorithmExceptionif the algorithm is not available in the package supplied by the requested provider.
IllegalArgumentExceptionif the provider is null.
@since
1.4
See Also
Generates a Signature object implementing the specified algorithm, as supplied from the specified provider, if such an algorithm is available from the provider.
Parameters
algorithmthe name of the algorithm requested. See Appendix A in the Java Cryptography Architecture API Specification & Reference for information about standard algorithm names.
providerthe name of the provider.
Return
the new Signature object.
Throws
NoSuchAlgorithmExceptionif the algorithm is not available in the package supplied by the requested provider.
NoSuchProviderExceptionif the provider is not available in the environment.
IllegalArgumentExceptionif the provider name is null or empty.
See Also
Gets the value of the specified algorithm parameter. This method supplies a general-purpose mechanism through which it is possible to get the various parameters of this object. A parameter may be any settable parameter for the algorithm, such as a parameter size, or a source of random bits for signature generation (if appropriate), or an indication of whether or not to perform a specific but optional computation. A uniform algorithm-specific naming scheme for each parameter is desirable but left unspecified at this time.
Parameters
paramthe string name of the parameter.
Return
the object that represents the parameter value, or null if there is none.
Throws
InvalidParameterExceptionif param is an invalid parameter for this engine, or another exception occurs while trying to get this parameter.
@deprecated
Returns the parameters used with this signature object.

The returned parameters may be the same that were used to initialize this signature, or may contain a combination of default and randomly generated parameter values used by the underlying signature implementation if this signature requires algorithm parameters but was not initialized with any.

Return
the parameters used with this signature, or null if this signature does not use any parameters.
Returns the provider of this signature object.
Return
the provider of this signature object
Returns a hash code value for the object. This method is supported for the benefit of hashtables such as those provided by java.util.Hashtable.

The general contract of hashCode is:

  • Whenever it is invoked on the same object more than once during an execution of a Java application, the hashCode method must consistently return the same integer, provided no information used in equals comparisons on the object is modified. This integer need not remain consistent from one execution of an application to another execution of the same application.
  • If two objects are equal according to the equals(Object) method, then calling the hashCode method on each of the two objects must produce the same integer result.
  • It is not required that if two objects are unequal according to the method, then calling the hashCode method on each of the two objects must produce distinct integer results. However, the programmer should be aware that producing distinct integer results for unequal objects may improve the performance of hashtables.

As much as is reasonably practical, the hashCode method defined by class Object does return distinct integers for distinct objects. (This is typically implemented by converting the internal address of the object into an integer, but this implementation technique is not required by the JavaTM programming language.)

Return
a hash code value for this object.
Initialize this object for signing. If this method is called again with a different argument, it negates the effect of this call.
Parameters
privateKeythe private key of the identity whose signature is going to be generated.
Throws
InvalidKeyExceptionif the key is invalid.
Initialize this object for signing. If this method is called again with a different argument, it negates the effect of this call.
Parameters
privateKeythe private key of the identity whose signature is going to be generated.
randomthe source of randomness for this signature.
Throws
InvalidKeyExceptionif the key is invalid.
Initializes this object for verification, using the public key from the given certificate.

If the certificate is of type X.509 and has a key usage extension field marked as critical, and the value of the key usage extension field implies that the public key in the certificate and its corresponding private key are not supposed to be used for digital signatures, an InvalidKeyException is thrown.

Parameters
certificatethe certificate of the identity whose signature is going to be verified.
Throws
InvalidKeyExceptionif the public key in the certificate is not encoded properly or does not include required parameter information or cannot be used for digital signature purposes.
Initializes this object for verification. If this method is called again with a different argument, it negates the effect of this call.
Parameters
publicKeythe public key of the identity whose signature is going to be verified.
Throws
InvalidKeyExceptionif the key is invalid.
Wakes up a single thread that is waiting on this object's monitor. If any threads are waiting on this object, one of them is chosen to be awakened. The choice is arbitrary and occurs at the discretion of the implementation. A thread waits on an object's monitor by calling one of the wait methods.

The awakened thread will not be able to proceed until the current thread relinquishes the lock on this object. The awakened thread will compete in the usual manner with any other threads that might be actively competing to synchronize on this object; for example, the awakened thread enjoys no reliable privilege or disadvantage in being the next thread to lock this object.

This method should only be called by a thread that is the owner of this object's monitor. A thread becomes the owner of the object's monitor in one of three ways:

  • By executing a synchronized instance method of that object.
  • By executing the body of a synchronized statement that synchronizes on the object.
  • For objects of type Class, by executing a synchronized static method of that class.

Only one thread at a time can own an object's monitor.

Throws
IllegalMonitorStateExceptionif the current thread is not the owner of this object's monitor.
Wakes up all threads that are waiting on this object's monitor. A thread waits on an object's monitor by calling one of the wait methods.

The awakened threads will not be able to proceed until the current thread relinquishes the lock on this object. The awakened threads will compete in the usual manner with any other threads that might be actively competing to synchronize on this object; for example, the awakened threads enjoy no reliable privilege or disadvantage in being the next thread to lock this object.

This method should only be called by a thread that is the owner of this object's monitor. See the notify method for a description of the ways in which a thread can become the owner of a monitor.

Throws
IllegalMonitorStateExceptionif the current thread is not the owner of this object's monitor.
Initializes this signature engine with the specified parameter set.
Parameters
paramsthe parameters
Throws
InvalidAlgorithmParameterExceptionif the given parameters are inappropriate for this signature engine
Sets the specified algorithm parameter to the specified value. This method supplies a general-purpose mechanism through which it is possible to set the various parameters of this object. A parameter may be any settable parameter for the algorithm, such as a parameter size, or a source of random bits for signature generation (if appropriate), or an indication of whether or not to perform a specific but optional computation. A uniform algorithm-specific naming scheme for each parameter is desirable but left unspecified at this time.
Parameters
paramthe string identifier of the parameter.
valuethe parameter value.
Throws
InvalidParameterExceptionif param is an invalid parameter for this signature algorithm engine, the parameter is already set and cannot be set again, a security exception occurs, and so on.
@deprecated
Use {@link #setParameter(java.security.spec.AlgorithmParameterSpec) setParameter}.
See Also
Returns the signature bytes of all the data updated. The format of the signature depends on the underlying signature scheme.

A call to this method resets this signature object to the state it was in when previously initialized for signing via a call to initSign(PrivateKey). That is, the object is reset and available to generate another signature from the same signer, if desired, via new calls to update and sign.

Return
the signature bytes of the signing operation's result.
Throws
SignatureExceptionif this signature object is not initialized properly or if this signature algorithm is unable to process the input data provided.
Finishes the signature operation and stores the resulting signature bytes in the provided buffer outbuf, starting at offset. The format of the signature depends on the underlying signature scheme.

This signature object is reset to its initial state (the state it was in after a call to one of the initSign methods) and can be reused to generate further signatures with the same private key.

Parameters
outbufbuffer for the signature result.
offsetoffset into outbuf where the signature is stored.
lennumber of bytes within outbuf allotted for the signature.
Return
the number of bytes placed into outbuf.
Throws
SignatureExceptionif this signature object is not initialized properly, if this signature algorithm is unable to process the input data provided, or if len is less than the actual signature length.
@since
1.2
Returns a string representation of this signature object, providing information that includes the state of the object and the name of the algorithm used.
Return
a string representation of this signature object.
Updates the data to be signed or verified by a byte.
Parameters
bthe byte to use for the update.
Throws
SignatureExceptionif this signature object is not initialized properly.
Updates the data to be signed or verified, using the specified array of bytes.
Parameters
datathe byte array to use for the update.
Throws
SignatureExceptionif this signature object is not initialized properly.
Updates the data to be signed or verified, using the specified array of bytes, starting at the specified offset.
Parameters
datathe array of bytes.
offthe offset to start from in the array of bytes.
lenthe number of bytes to use, starting at offset.
Throws
SignatureExceptionif this signature object is not initialized properly.
Updates the data to be signed or verified using the specified ByteBuffer. Processes the data.remaining() bytes starting at at data.position(). Upon return, the buffer's position will be equal to its limit; its limit will not have changed.
Parameters
datathe ByteBuffer
Throws
SignatureExceptionif this signature object is not initialized properly.
@since
1.5
Verifies the passed-in signature.

A call to this method resets this signature object to the state it was in when previously initialized for verification via a call to initVerify(PublicKey). That is, the object is reset and available to verify another signature from the identity whose public key was specified in the call to initVerify.

Parameters
signaturethe signature bytes to be verified.
Return
true if the signature was verified, false if not.
Throws
SignatureExceptionif this signature object is not initialized properly, the passed-in signature is improperly encoded or of the wrong type, if this signature algorithm is unable to process the input data provided, etc.
Verifies the passed-in signature in the specified array of bytes, starting at the specified offset.

A call to this method resets this signature object to the state it was in when previously initialized for verification via a call to initVerify(PublicKey). That is, the object is reset and available to verify another signature from the identity whose public key was specified in the call to initVerify.

Parameters
signaturethe signature bytes to be verified.
offsetthe offset to start from in the array of bytes.
lengththe number of bytes to use, starting at offset.
Return
true if the signature was verified, false if not.
Throws
SignatureExceptionif this signature object is not initialized properly, the passed-in signature is improperly encoded or of the wrong type, if this signature algorithm is unable to process the input data provided, etc.
IllegalArgumentExceptionif the signature byte array is null, or the offset or length is less than 0, or the sum of the offset and length is greater than the length of the signature byte array.
Causes current thread to wait until another thread invokes the method or the method for this object. In other words, this method behaves exactly as if it simply performs the call wait(0).

The current thread must own this object's monitor. The thread releases ownership of this monitor and waits until another thread notifies threads waiting on this object's monitor to wake up either through a call to the notify method or the notifyAll method. The thread then waits until it can re-obtain ownership of the monitor and resumes execution.

As in the one argument version, interrupts and spurious wakeups are possible, and this method should always be used in a loop:

     synchronized (obj) {
         while (<condition does not hold>)
             obj.wait();
         ... // Perform action appropriate to condition
     }
 
This method should only be called by a thread that is the owner of this object's monitor. See the notify method for a description of the ways in which a thread can become the owner of a monitor.
Throws
IllegalMonitorStateExceptionif the current thread is not the owner of the object's monitor.
InterruptedExceptionif another thread interrupted the current thread before or while the current thread was waiting for a notification. The interrupted status of the current thread is cleared when this exception is thrown.
Causes current thread to wait until either another thread invokes the method or the method for this object, or a specified amount of time has elapsed.

The current thread must own this object's monitor.

This method causes the current thread (call it T) to place itself in the wait set for this object and then to relinquish any and all synchronization claims on this object. Thread T becomes disabled for thread scheduling purposes and lies dormant until one of four things happens:

  • Some other thread invokes the notify method for this object and thread T happens to be arbitrarily chosen as the thread to be awakened.
  • Some other thread invokes the notifyAll method for this object.
  • Some other thread interrupts thread T.
  • The specified amount of real time has elapsed, more or less. If timeout is zero, however, then real time is not taken into consideration and the thread simply waits until notified.
The thread T is then removed from the wait set for this object and re-enabled for thread scheduling. It then competes in the usual manner with other threads for the right to synchronize on the object; once it has gained control of the object, all its synchronization claims on the object are restored to the status quo ante - that is, to the situation as of the time that the wait method was invoked. Thread T then returns from the invocation of the wait method. Thus, on return from the wait method, the synchronization state of the object and of thread T is exactly as it was when the wait method was invoked.

A thread can also wake up without being notified, interrupted, or timing out, a so-called spurious wakeup. While this will rarely occur in practice, applications must guard against it by testing for the condition that should have caused the thread to be awakened, and continuing to wait if the condition is not satisfied. In other words, waits should always occur in loops, like this one:

     synchronized (obj) {
         while (<condition does not hold>)
             obj.wait(timeout);
         ... // Perform action appropriate to condition
     }
 
(For more information on this topic, see Section 3.2.3 in Doug Lea's "Concurrent Programming in Java (Second Edition)" (Addison-Wesley, 2000), or Item 50 in Joshua Bloch's "Effective Java Programming Language Guide" (Addison-Wesley, 2001).

If the current thread is interrupted by another thread while it is waiting, then an InterruptedException is thrown. This exception is not thrown until the lock status of this object has been restored as described above.

Note that the wait method, as it places the current thread into the wait set for this object, unlocks only this object; any other objects on which the current thread may be synchronized remain locked while the thread waits.

This method should only be called by a thread that is the owner of this object's monitor. See the notify method for a description of the ways in which a thread can become the owner of a monitor.

Parameters
timeoutthe maximum time to wait in milliseconds.
Throws
IllegalArgumentExceptionif the value of timeout is negative.
IllegalMonitorStateExceptionif the current thread is not the owner of the object's monitor.
InterruptedExceptionif another thread interrupted the current thread before or while the current thread was waiting for a notification. The interrupted status of the current thread is cleared when this exception is thrown.
Causes current thread to wait until another thread invokes the method or the method for this object, or some other thread interrupts the current thread, or a certain amount of real time has elapsed.

This method is similar to the wait method of one argument, but it allows finer control over the amount of time to wait for a notification before giving up. The amount of real time, measured in nanoseconds, is given by:

 1000000*timeout+nanos

In all other respects, this method does the same thing as the method of one argument. In particular, wait(0, 0) means the same thing as wait(0).

The current thread must own this object's monitor. The thread releases ownership of this monitor and waits until either of the following two conditions has occurred:

  • Another thread notifies threads waiting on this object's monitor to wake up either through a call to the notify method or the notifyAll method.
  • The timeout period, specified by timeout milliseconds plus nanos nanoseconds arguments, has elapsed.

The thread then waits until it can re-obtain ownership of the monitor and resumes execution.

As in the one argument version, interrupts and spurious wakeups are possible, and this method should always be used in a loop:

     synchronized (obj) {
         while (<condition does not hold>)
             obj.wait(timeout, nanos);
         ... // Perform action appropriate to condition
     }
 
This method should only be called by a thread that is the owner of this object's monitor. See the notify method for a description of the ways in which a thread can become the owner of a monitor.
Parameters
timeoutthe maximum time to wait in milliseconds.
nanosadditional time, in nanoseconds range 0-999999.
Throws
IllegalArgumentExceptionif the value of timeout is negative or the value of nanos is not in the range 0-999999.
IllegalMonitorStateExceptionif the current thread is not the owner of this object's monitor.
InterruptedExceptionif another thread interrupted the current thread before or while the current thread was waiting for a notification. The interrupted status of the current thread is cleared when this exception is thrown.