(mozilla-projects-nss-jss)=

# JSS

## [Documentation](#documentation)

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:::{warning}
**The JSS project has been relocated!**

As of April 6, 2018, JSS has been migrated from Mercurial on Mozilla to Git on Github.

JSS source should now be checked out from the Github:

- git clone <mailto:git@github.com>:dogtagpki/jss.git
  -- OR --
- git clone <https://github.com/dogtagpki/jss.git>

All future upstream enquiries to JSS should now use the Pagure Issue Tracker system:

- <https://pagure.io/jss/issues>

Documentation regarding the JSS project should now be viewed at:

- <http://www.dogtagpki.org/wiki/JSS>

**NOTE: As much of the JSS documentation is sorely out-of-date, updated information will be a
work in progress, and many portions of any legacy documentation will be re-written over the
course of time. Stay tuned!**

Legacy JSS information can still be found at:

- SOURCE: <https://hg.mozilla.org/projects/jss>
- ISSUES: <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?product=JSS>
- WIKI: {ref}`mozilla_projects_nss_jss`
:::

Network Security Services for Java (JSS) is a Java interface to
[NSS](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/NSS). JSS supports most of the security
standards and encryption technologies supported by {ref}`mozilla_projects_nss_reference`. JSS
also provides a pure Java interface for ASN.1 types and BER/DER encoding.

JSS offers a implementation of Java SSL sockets that uses NSS's SSL/TLS implementation rather
than Sun's JSSE implementation. You might want to use JSS's own [SSL
classes](ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/security/jss/releases) if you want to use some
of the capabilities found in NSS's SSL/TLS library but not found in JSSE.

NSS is the cryptographic module where all cryptographic operations are performed. JSS essentially
provides a Java JNI bridge to NSS C shared libraries. When NSS is put in FIPS mode, JSS ensures
FIPS compliance by ensuring that all cryptographic operations are performed by the NSS
cryptographic module.

JSS offers a JCE provider, ["Mozilla-JSS" JCA Provider notes](JSS/JSS_Provider_Notes).

JSS, jss4.jar, is still built with JDK 1.4.2. While JDK 1.4.2 is EOL'd and all new product
development should be using the latest
[JavaSE](http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp), legacy business products that must
use JDK 1.4 or 1.5 can continue to add NSS/JSS security fixes/enhancements.

JSS is used by Red Hat and Sun products that do crypto in Java. JSS is available under the
Mozilla Public License, the GNU General Public License, and the GNU Lesser General Public
License. JSS requires [NSPR](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/NSPR) and
[NSS](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/NSS).

Java provides a JCE provider called SunPKCS11 (see [Java PKCS#11 Reference
Guide](http://download.java.net/jdk7/docs/technotes/guides/security/p11guide.html).) SunPKCS11
can be configured to use the NSS module as the crytographic provider. If you are planning to just
use JSS JCE provider as a bridge to NSS's FIPS validated PKCS#11 module, then the SunPKCS11 JCE
provider may do all that you need. Note that Java 1.5 claimed no FIPS compliance, and [Java
1.6](http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/technotes/guides/security/enhancements.html) or higher
needs to be used. A current limitation to the configured SunPKCS11-NSS bridge configuration is if
you add a PKCS#11 module to the NSS database such as for a smartcard, you won't be able to access
that smartcard through the SunPKCS11-NSS bridge. If you use JSS, you can easily get lists of
modules and tokens that are configured in the NSS DB and freely access all of it.

```{eval-rst}
+-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| Before you use JSS, you should have a good      | .. rubric:: Community                           |
| understanding of the crypto technologies it     |    :name: Community                             |
| uses. You might want to read these documents:   |                                                 |
|                                                 | -  View Mozilla Cryptography forums...          |
| -  `Introduction to Public-Key Cryptography`_.  |                                                 |
|    Explains the basic concepts of public-key    |    -  `Mailing list`_                           |
|    cryptography that underlie NSS and JSS.      |    -  `Newsgroup (dev.tech.crypto)`_            |
| -  `Introduction to SSL`_.                      |    -  `RSS feed`_                               |
|    Introduces the SSL protocol, including       |                                                 |
|    information about cryptographic ciphers      | .. rubric:: Related Topics                      |
|    supported by SSL and the steps involved in   |    :name: Related_Topics                        |
|    the SSL handshake.                           |                                                 |
|                                                 | -  `Security`_                                  |
| For information on downloading NSS releases,    |                                                 |
| see `NSS sources building testing`_.            |                                                 |
|                                                 |                                                 |
| Read `Using JSS <JSS/Using_JSS>`__ to get you   |                                                 |
| started with development after you've built and |                                                 |
| downloaded it.                                  |                                                 |
|                                                 |                                                 |
| .. rubric:: Release Notes                       |                                                 |
|    :name: Release_Notes                         |                                                 |
|                                                 |                                                 |
| -  `4.3.1 Release Notes`_                       |                                                 |
| -  `4.3 Release Notes`_                         |                                                 |
| -  `Older Release Notes`_                       |                                                 |
|                                                 |                                                 |
| .. rubric:: Build Instructions                  |                                                 |
|    :name: Build_Instructions                    |                                                 |
|                                                 |                                                 |
| -  `Build Instructions for JSS 4.4.x`_          |                                                 |
| -  `Building JSS 4.3.x`_                        |                                                 |
| -  `Older Build Instructions`_                  |                                                 |
|                                                 |                                                 |
| .. rubric:: Download or View Source             |                                                 |
|    :name: Download_or_View_Source               |                                                 |
|                                                 |                                                 |
| -  `Download binaries, source, and javadoc`_    |                                                 |
| -  `View the source online`_                    |                                                 |
|                                                 |                                                 |
| .. rubric:: Testing                             |                                                 |
|    :name: Testing                               |                                                 |
|                                                 |                                                 |
| -  `JSS tests`_                                 |                                                 |
|                                                 |                                                 |
| .. rubric:: Frequently Asked Questions          |                                                 |
|    :name: Frequently_Asked_Questions            |                                                 |
|                                                 |                                                 |
| -  `JSS FAQ <JSS/JSS_FAQ>`__                    |                                                 |
|                                                 |                                                 |
| Information on JSS planning can be found at     |                                                 |
| `wiki.mozilla.org (NSS)`_, including:           |                                                 |
|                                                 |                                                 |
| -  `NSS FIPS Validation`_                       |                                                 |
| -  `NSS Roadmap page`_                          |                                                 |
+-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+

.. _Introduction to Public-Key Cryptography: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Introduction_to_Public-Key_Cryptography
.. _Introduction to SSL: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Introduction_to_SSL
.. _NSS sources building testing: NSS_Sources_Building_Testing
.. _4.3.1 Release Notes: /4.3.1_Release_Notes
.. _4.3 Release Notes: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JSS/4_3_ReleaseNotes
.. _Older Release Notes: http://www-archive.mozilla.org/projects/security/pki/jss/index.html
.. _Build Instructions for JSS 4.4.x: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JSS/Build_instructions_for_JSS_4.4.x
.. _Building JSS 4.3.x: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JSS/Build_instructions_for_JSS_4.3.x
.. _Older Build Instructions: http://www-archive.mozilla.org/projects/security/pki/jss/index.html
.. _Download binaries, source, and javadoc: ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/security/jss/releases/
.. _View the source online: http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla/source/security/jss/
.. _JSS tests: https://hg.mozilla.org/projects/jss/file/tip/README
.. _wiki.mozilla.org (NSS): http://wiki.mozilla.org/NSS
.. _NSS FIPS Validation: http://wiki.mozilla.org/FIPS_Validation
.. _NSS Roadmap page: http://wiki.mozilla.org/NSS:Roadmap
.. _Mailing list: https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-tech-crypto
.. _Newsgroup (dev.tech.crypto): http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.tech.crypto
.. _RSS feed: http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.tech.crypto/feeds
.. _Security: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Security
```

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