Can't change the keystore format

Question

I'm trying to make some keystores using keytool from the latest JRE (version 1.8.0_151). When I create the keystore using this command keytool -genkey -alias serverprivate -keystore server.private -keyalg rsa -storepass apassword -keypass apassword it shows me this warning:

Warning:
The JKS keystore uses a proprietary format. It is recommended to migrate 
to  PKCS12 which is an industry standard format using "keytool 
-importkeystore -srckeystore server.private -destkeystore server.private
-deststoretype pkcs12".

So I type the command, and it says it's done and the old keystore was saved in server.private_old. But when I run keytool -list -keystore server.private and type the password, it is still listed as JKS instead of PKCS12. Why is this?

update
It's not silently changed to pkcs12 either, because when I use KeyStore store = KeyStore.getInstance("pkcs12"); in java it throws an error, while it works fine when using getInstance("JKS");

update 2
And when using keytool -genkey -alias serverprivate -keystore server.private -storetype PKCS12 -keyalg rsa it doesn't show me a warning, but still shows as a JKS keystore when using keytool -list server.private.

Answer 1

It seems to be a bug in what keytool displays rather than what it does. Consider the following experiments.

(EDIT: bug report filed)

First, my jdk version is 1.8.0_152:

excalibur:~ ronan$ java -version
java version "1.8.0_152"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_152-b16)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.152-b16, mixed mode)

Now, create the keystore as you specified:

excalibur:~ ronan$ keytool -genkey -alias serverprivate -keystore server.private -keyalg rsa -storepass apassword -keypass apassword
What is your first and last name?
  [Unknown]:  Art Vandelay
What is the name of your organizational unit?
  [Unknown]:  Export/Import
What is the name of your organization?
  [Unknown]:  Vandelay Industries
What is the name of your City or Locality?
  [Unknown]:  New York
What is the name of your State or Province?
  [Unknown]:  New York
What is the two-letter country code for this unit?
  [Unknown]:  US
Is CN=Art Vandelay, OU=Export/Import, O=Vandelay Industries, L=New York, ST=New York, C=US correct?
  [no]:  yes


Warning:
The JKS keystore uses a proprietary format. It is recommended to migrate to PKCS12 which is an industry standard format using "keytool -importkeystore -srckeystore server.private -destkeystore server.private -deststoretype pkcs12".

Now, following the instructions given:

excalibur:~ ronan$ keytool -importkeystore -srckeystore server.private -destkeystore server.private -deststoretype pkcs12
Enter source keystore password:  
Entry for alias serverprivate successfully imported.
Import command completed:  1 entries successfully imported, 0 entries failed or cancelled

Warning:
Migrated "server.private" to Non JKS/JCEKS. The JKS keystore is backed up as "server.private.old".

But when we list it with keytool it still says JKS.

excalibur:~ ronan$ keytool -list -keystore server.private
Enter keystore password:  
Keystore type: JKS
Keystore provider: SUN

Your keystore contains 1 entry

serverprivate, Dec 4, 2017, PrivateKeyEntry, 
Certificate fingerprint (SHA1): 16:E8:C6:12:7A:F1:7A:B8:64:98:EC:12:C4:07:9E:67:06:BD:DD:BD

However, openssl can parse it as pkcs12 just fine.

excalibur:~ ronan$ openssl pkcs12 -in server.private
Enter Import Password:
MAC verified OK
Bag Attributes
    friendlyName: serverprivate
    localKeyID: 54 69 6D 65 20 31 35 31 32 34 31 33 32 30 38 31 38 32 
Key Attributes: <No Attributes>
Enter PEM pass phrase:
Bag Attributes
    friendlyName: serverprivate
    localKeyID: 54 69 6D 65 20 31 35 31 32 34 31 33 32 30 38 31 38 32 
subject=/C=US/ST=New York/L=New York/O=Vandelay Industries/OU=Export/Import/CN=Art Vandelay
issuer=/C=US/ST=New York/L=New York/O=Vandelay Industries/OU=Export/Import/CN=Art Vandelay
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----

and the following Java snippet can also parse it.

import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.security.KeyStore;
import java.util.Collections;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        KeyStore pkcs12 = KeyStore.getInstance("PKCS12");
        pkcs12.load(new FileInputStream("../../../server.private"), "apassword".toCharArray());
        for (String alias : Collections.list(pkcs12.aliases())) {
            System.out.println(alias);
        }
    }
}

and the output is

serverprivate