Principal.java   [plain text]


/* Principal.java -- A security entity
   Copyright (C) 1998, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This file is part of GNU Classpath.

GNU Classpath is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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any later version.

GNU Classpath is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
General Public License for more details.

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02111-1307 USA.

Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is
making a combined work based on this library.  Thus, the terms and
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As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you
permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an
executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent
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terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked
independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that
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package java.security;

/**
 * This interface models an entity (such as a user or a certificate authority)
 * for the purposes of applying the Java security model.
 *
 * @author Aaron M. Renn <arenn@urbanophile.com>
 * @see X509Certificate
 * @since 1.1
 * @status updated to 1.4
 */
public interface Principal
{
  /**
   * This method tests another <code>Principal</code> object for equality
   * with this one.
   *
   * @param obj the Object to test for equality
   * @return true if the specified <code>Principal</code> is equal
   */
  boolean equals(Object obj);

  /**
   * This method returns a <code>String</code> representation of this
   * <code>Principal</code>.
   *
   * @return this <code>Principal</code> represented as a <code>String</code>
   */
  String toString();

  /**
   * This method returns a hash code value for this <code>Principal</code>.
   * Remember the contract of hashCode - two objects which compare as
   * equals() must have the same hashCode().
   *
   * @return a hash value
   */
  int hashCode();

  /**
   * This method returns a <code>String</code> that names this
   * <code>Principal</code>.
   *
   * @return the name of this <code>Principal</code>
   */
  String getName();
} // interface Principal