/*

 * 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 selector that defines a set of criteria for selecting

 * <code>Certificate</code>s. Classes that implement this interface

 * are often used to specify which <code>Certificate</code>s should

 * be retrieved from a <code>CertStore</code>.

 * <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 Certificate

 * @see CertStore

 * @see CertStore#getCertificates

 *

 * @author      Steve Hanna

 * @since       1.4

 */

public interface CertSelector extends Cloneable {

    /**

     * Decides whether a <code>Certificate</code> should be selected.

     *

     * @param   cert    the <code>Certificate</code> to be checked

     * @return  <code>true</code> if the <code>Certificate</code>

     * should be selected, <code>false</code> otherwise

     */

    boolean match(Certificate cert);

    /**

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

     * copy will not affect the original and vice versa.

     *

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

     */

    Object clone();

}