# RE: X509Certificate.getSerialNumber does not need to return a

Blake Ramsdell (BlakeR@deming.com)
Wed, 11 Nov 1998 15:31:51 -0800

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Java Security [mailto:java-security@java.Sun.COM]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 1998 3:27 PM
> To: Blake Ramsdell
> Subject: Re: X509Certificate.getSerialNumber does not need to return a
> BigInteger
>
> The ASN.1 definition for a serialNumber is an INTEGER, so
> BigInteger seems likethe right thing to be returning.

I understand this -- speaking from the standpoint of someone who deals with
this every day, serialNumber is used in a most practical sense as an opaque
binary block. The problem with putting it into a BigInteger is that it's an
unnecessary overhead for what is essentially treated as binary data.

This is equivalent to expressing BIT STRINGs or named bit lists as a
boolean[]. It gets the job done, but is in no way useful for the
implementor.

Blake

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