What to use? bc-jdk15on or bc-jdk16?

[Gulakov Alexey]

Hello all!

Please explain to me or point to suitable article..
I have found on http://www.bouncycastle.org/latest_releases.html latest
library release - bcprov-jdk15on-147.jar
After that i have found bcprov-jdk16 on http://mvnrepository.com. It is
most popular here among all bcprov-xxx.

So i have some questions:
1. What is better to use - bcprov-jdk16 or bcprov-jdk15on-147? (my project
is deployed on jdk1.6)
2. What is the difference between bcprov-jdk16 and bcprov-jdk15on-147?
3. What is the meaning of "on" segment in bcprov-jdk15*on*-147 name?

Thank you, Alex

[Thomas Lieven]

Hello,

I'm also new to Bouncy Castle but will try to answer to the best of my
knowledge, so feel free to correct me or add something if I'm wrong or
missed anything.

Post by Gulakov Alexey
1. What is better to use - bcprov-jdk16 or bcprov-jdk15on-147? (my
project is deployed on jdk1.6)

Your jdk1.6 from http://mvnrepository.com seems to be BC1.46.
Due to bug fixes and new features in BC1.47 you probably should try
bcprov-jdk15on-147.jar. BC1.47 is downward compatible to BC1.46.

Post by Gulakov Alexey
2. What is the difference between bcprov-jdk16 and bcprov-jdk15on-147?

For the differences have a look at the release notes:
http://www.bouncycastle.org/releasenotes.html

Probably more interesting for beginning with BC is which API version to
start with, 1 or 2.

See e.g.
http://www.bouncycastle.org/wiki/display/JA1/BC+Version+2+APIs
and
http://www.bouncycastle.org/wiki/display/JA1/Porting+from+earlier+BC+releases+to+1.47+and+later

Post by Gulakov Alexey
From my experience it is probably best to start with BC1 API as there

are only very few examples for the BC2 API yet.
If you feel comfortable using BC you may try to migrate to the new API.

Post by Gulakov Alexey
3. What is the meaning of "on" segment in bcprov-jdk15*on*-147 name?

"on" just means all JDKs starting from JDK1.5 "on", i.e. 1.5, 1.6, 1.7.

Best regards

Thomas