Description Michael Petig 2005-04-01 06:07:05 EST

When running a java application from Eclipse with Debug or Run, then code
requesting a Cipher object through Cipher.getInstance will fail. This only
happens if the JRE used is not configured (Window, Preferences, Java, Installed
JREs, ${jre}, Edit) to "Use default system libraries ".

Example code to produce the error:
---
public static void main(String[] args) {
  Cipher cp;
  try {
    cp=Cipher.getInstance("DES/ECB/NoPadding", "SunJCE");
    cp=Cipher.getInstance("DES/ECB/NoPadding");
    System.out.println("JCE OK");
  } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
  } catch (NoSuchProviderException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
  } catch (NoSuchPaddingException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
  }
}
---
With "Use default system libraries" it works without problems.
With default configuration for JRE and "Use default system libraries" switched off,
it produces following stack dump:
---
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.SecurityException: JCE cannot authenticate
the provider SunJCE
	at javax.crypto.Cipher.getInstance(DashoA12275)
	at javax.crypto.Cipher.getInstance(DashoA12275)
	at TestCaseJCE.main(TestCaseJCE.java:22)
Caused by: java.util.jar.JarException: Class is on the bootclasspath
	at javax.crypto.SunJCE_d.a(DashoA12275)
	at javax.crypto.SunJCE_b.b(DashoA12275)
	at javax.crypto.SunJCE_b.a(DashoA12275)
	... 3 more
---
As far as I have discovered this is caused by JRE default setting, placing all
jar files from lib/ext directory into bootclasspath when "Use default system
libraries" is switched off. This includes the SUN JCE provider
"sunjce_provider.jar". Obviously the verification of the JCE provider fails if
it is located in bootclasspath. The problem can be easily solved by removing
sunjce_provider.jar from list of JRE jar files. Then again the above code runs
without problems.
In my opinion the default settings when importing a JRE into Eclipse should be
changed not to include sunjce_provider.jar.
One may argue that switching off "Use default system libraries" is typically not
the case, but if source code is attached to one of the JRE jar files (including
the lib/ext files), then this is done automatically by Eclipse.

PS: I have discovered the problem running Windows XP on PC platform. Anyway I
expect the problem to be platform and OS independent. I may have assigned the
problem to the wrong component, please correct this if there is a better
component fitting this problem.