Beyond the Black Box: A Case Study in C to Java Conversion and Product Extensibility
• SEI Report
Publisher
Software Engineering Institute
CMU/SEI Report Number
CMU/SEI-2001-TN-017DOI (Digital Object Identifier)
10.1184/R1/6572105.v1Topic or Tag
Abstract
This case study describes the experience of converting and enhancing NDBS 1.0 (Netscape Database Keystore), a programmatic library to extract private keys and digital certificates from a Netscape database written in C and Java. The result of this work is NDBS 2.0, a 100% Java version of NDBS 1.0 designed to support other keystores easily. NDBS 2.0 also includes write and delete capabilities, features that were not present in NDBS 1.0. The case study describes the experience of the conversion and development process, difficulties, and lessons learned.
Cite This SEI Report
Huy, P., Lewis, G., & Liu, M. (2001, August 1). Beyond the Black Box: A Case Study in C to Java Conversion and Product Extensibility. (SEI Report CMU/SEI-2001-TN-017). Retrieved September 12, 2026, from https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/6572105.v1.
@techreport{huy_2001,
author={Huy, Pisey and Lewis, Grace and Liu, Ming-hsun},
title={Beyond the Black Box: A Case Study in C to Java Conversion and Product Extensibility},
month={Aug},
year={2001},
number={{CMU/SEI-2001-TN-017},
institution={Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University},
doi={10.1184/R1/6572105.v1},
url={https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/6572105.v1},
note={Accessed: 2026-Sep-12}
}
Huy, Pisey, Grace Lewis, and Ming-hsun Liu. "Beyond the Black Box: A Case Study in C to Java Conversion and Product Extensibility." (CMU/SEI-2001-TN-017). Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. Software Engineering Institute, August 1, 2001. https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/6572105.v1.
P. Huy, G. Lewis, and M. Liu, "Beyond the Black Box: A Case Study in C to Java Conversion and Product Extensibility," Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. Software Engineering Institute, SEI Report CMU/SEI-2001-TN-017, 1-Aug-2001 [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/6572105.v1. [Accessed: 12-Sep-2026].
Huy, Pisey, Grace Lewis, and Ming-hsun Liu. "Beyond the Black Box: A Case Study in C to Java Conversion and Product Extensibility." (SEI Report CMU/SEI-2001-TN-017). Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Software Engineering Institute, 1 Aug. 2001. https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/6572105.v1. Accessed 12 Sep. 2026.
Huy, Pisey; Lewis, Grace; & Liu, Ming-hsun. Beyond the Black Box: A Case Study in C to Java Conversion and Product Extensibility. CMU/SEI-2001-TN-017. Software Engineering Institute. 2001. DOI: 10.1184/R1/6572105.v1. https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/6572105.v1