Creating signed CAB files for Internet Explorer

Creating signed JAR files for Netscape Navigator

Get zigbert siging tool kit.

Netscape Navigator 4 supports signed applets in .jar (Java Archive) files. The applet's classes are first signed with a command line tool known as zigbert. A signing certificate issued by a CA, such as VeriSign, is required. Once the classes have been signed, the .jar file is created using a standard ZIP utility such as Info-ZIP - http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip.

Get certificate and signature files ready for the digital signature.

(Note: the certificates and private signature files are different from those for CAB files, which you need to get separately). cert7.db, key3.db and nscapec3.p12 files

Create the JAR file using the JDK1.1.x JAR tool: A MS-DOS batch file( GenJAR_ALL.bat ) is attached

Sign the JAR file using the zigbert tool kit. A MS-DOS batch file( SignJAR_ALL.bat) is attached.

Netscape's Capabilities API

This section describes the new security API introduced in Netscape Navigator 4.

In Netscape Navigator 4, signing an applet alone is not enough to enable it to escape the sandbox. The applet must also ask for - and be granted by the user - the specific capabilities it requires before it can use them. It does this by calling methods in the netscape.security package. These methods comprise Netscape's Capabilities API. More information is available from the Netscape developer library - http://developer.netscape.com/library/documentation/signedobj/capabilities.

In a typical case, an applet running in Navigator wishes to connect to an arbitrary host (not permitted in the sandbox), so it must first obtain the capability by calling PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege("UniversalConnect"). This applies to all applets, including signed applets and applets running in the CLASSPATH.

Note: See http://developer.netscape.com/software/signedobj for more information about Netscape’s signed applet implementation.

Note: The zigbert tool is available at ftp://ftp1.netscape.com/private/signtool/zIgshIpme/zigship.zip.

Note: The Jar Packager is available at http://developer.netscape.com/software/signedobj/jarpkgr.zip.