/*
 * 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,
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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();
}