/*
 * 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();
}