/*
 * Copyright 2003 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  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.  Sun designates this
 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
 * by Sun 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 Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara,
 * CA 95054 USA or visit www.sun.com if you need additional information or
 * have any questions.
 */

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;
}