/*

 * Copyright 2000-2001 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.

 *

 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it

 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as

 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Sun designates this

 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided

 * by Sun in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.

 *

 * This code 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

 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that

 * accompanied this code).

 *

 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version

 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,

 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

 *

 * Please contact Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara,

 * CA 95054 USA or visit www.sun.com if you need additional information or

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 */

package java.security.cert;

/**

 * A specification of the result of a certification path builder algorithm.

 * All results returned by the {@link CertPathBuilder#build

 * CertPathBuilder.build} method must implement this interface.

 * <p>

 * At a minimum, a <code>CertPathBuilderResult</code> contains the

 * <code>CertPath</code> built by the <code>CertPathBuilder</code> instance.

 * Implementations of this interface may add methods to return implementation

 * or algorithm specific information, such as debugging information or

 * certification path validation results.

 * <p>

 * <b>Concurrent Access</b>

 * <p>

 * Unless otherwise specified, the methods defined in this interface are not

 * thread-safe. Multiple threads that need to access a single

 * object concurrently should synchronize amongst themselves and

 * provide the necessary locking. Multiple threads each manipulating

 * separate objects need not synchronize.

 *

 * @see CertPathBuilder

 *

 * @since       1.4

 * @author      Sean Mullan

 */

public interface CertPathBuilderResult extends Cloneable {

    /**

     * Returns the built certification path.

     *

     * @return the certification path (never <code>null</code>)

     */

    CertPath getCertPath();

    /**

     * Makes a copy of this <code>CertPathBuilderResult</code>. Changes to the

     * copy will not affect the original and vice versa.

     *

     * @return a copy of this <code>CertPathBuilderResult</code>

     */

    Object clone();

}