/*

 * Copyright (c) 2003, Oracle and/or its affiliates. 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.  Oracle designates this

 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided

 * by Oracle 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 Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA

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 */

package sun.security.timestamp;

import java.io.IOException;

/**

 * A timestamping service which conforms to the Time-Stamp Protocol (TSP)

 * defined in:

 * <a href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3161.txt">RFC 3161</a>.

 * Individual timestampers may communicate with a Timestamping Authority (TSA)

 * over different transport machanisms. TSP permits at least the following

 * transports: HTTP, Internet mail, file-based and socket-based.

 *

 * @author Vincent Ryan

 * @see HttpTimestamper

 */

public interface Timestamper {

    /*

     * Connects to the TSA and requests a timestamp.

     *

     * @param tsQuery The timestamp query.

     * @return The result of the timestamp query.

     * @throws IOException The exception is thrown if a problem occurs while

     *         communicating with the TSA.

     */

    public TSResponse generateTimestamp(TSRequest tsQuery) throws IOException;

}