Legacy Java code use of com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Provider()

Question

I am working with some code from back in 2003. There is a reference to the following class:

new com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Provider()

It is causing an error:

Access restriction: The type Provider is not accessible due to restriction on required library /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.7.0.jdk/Contents/Home/jre/lib/jsse.jar

Does anyone have any suggestions for a suitable alternative to using this class?

Answer 1

Throw that line of code away. Also throw away any reference to the com.sun.net.ssl package and its sub-packages: fix the imports so they refer to the classes in javax.net.ssl.

This is pre-JDK 1.4 code, from the days when JSSE was a separate download.

Answer 2

Most of the time, you don't actually need to create or get hold of a provider instance yourself. As the Oracle Providers documentation says:

General purpose applications SHOULD NOT request cryptographic services from specific providers. That is:

getInstance("...", "SunJCE");  // not recommended
    vs.
getInstance("...");            // recommended

In addition, wherever there's an overloaded parameter for the provider, it tends to take either a string or an instance, but the string (name) would probably be more common. (Passing an instance can be useful sometimes, e.g. for some PKCS#11 configurations, but it's unusual.)

The JCA documentation about Providers should be useful.

If you really want to get hold of a specific instance, you can use Security.getProvider(name). You'll find the appropriate names in the providers documentation.

Answer 3

You can turn this into a warning or non-event in Eclipse preferences Java->Compiler->Errors/Warnings->Deprecated and restricted API. Note, as others have said, this not the best practice and should be avoided when you have alternatives.