1   /*
    2    * Copyright (c) 1997, 2007, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    3    * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
    4    *
    5    * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    6    * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
    7    * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this
    8    * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
    9    * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
   10    *
   11    * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
   12    * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
   13    * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
   14    * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
   15    * accompanied this code).
   16    *
   17    * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
   18    * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
   19    * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
   20    *
   21    * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
   22    * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
   23    * questions.
   24    */
   25   
   26   package javax.crypto;
   27   
   28   /**
   29    * A secret (symmetric) key.
   30    *
   31    * <p>This interface contains no methods or constants.
   32    * Its only purpose is to group (and provide type safety for) secret keys.
   33    *
   34    * <p>Provider implementations of this interface must overwrite the
   35    * <code>equals</code> and <code>hashCode</code> methods inherited from
   36    * <code>java.lang.Object</code>, so that secret keys are compared based on
   37    * their underlying key material and not based on reference.
   38    *
   39    * <p>Keys that implement this interface return the string <code>RAW</code>
   40    * as their encoding format (see <code>getFormat</code>), and return the
   41    * raw key bytes as the result of a <code>getEncoded</code> method call. (The
   42    * <code>getFormat</code> and <code>getEncoded</code> methods are inherited
   43    * from the <code>java.security.Key</code> parent interface.)
   44    *
   45    * @author Jan Luehe
   46    *
   47    * @see SecretKeyFactory
   48    * @see Cipher
   49    * @since 1.4
   50    */
   51   
   52   public interface SecretKey extends java.security.Key {
   53       /**
   54        * The class fingerprint that is set to indicate serialization
   55        * compatibility since J2SE 1.4.
   56        */
   57       static final long serialVersionUID = -4795878709595146952L;
   58   }