Testing and Deployment

[#1]

Overview

The CSI and CSJ files that are used to install your code signing keys can only be used once.  They are disabled after a successful installation, which makes it important to back up your code signing keys after they have been installed.

This article explains how to backup and restore your BlackBerry® Code Signing Keys.  It covers both BlackBerry 10 OS Code Signing Keys and BlackBerry OS 7.x and lower Code Signing Keys.  Code signing keys can be restored to the original PC they were installed to or restored to another computer.  You can also use these steps to transfer your code signing keys to multiple computers and sign from any of them.

BlackBerry 10+ and BlackBerry PlayBook OS Code Signing Keys

The files that need to be backed up are yourkeyname.p12, barsigner.csk and barsigner.db.  By default, the yourkeyname.p12 file will be named author.p12 and be located in the same directory as barsigner.csk and barsigner.db, however the tools do provide the option to specify a filename and directory of your choice when creating the .p12 file.  The barsigner files are located in the directories outlined below.  These are stored in a central location in the user's profile directory and used by all BlackBerry® Tablet OS development tools.  Their location will vary based on the operating system you use.  To restore your code signing keys, copy the files back to the directory outlined below.

• Windows® XP:  %HOMEPATH%\Local Settings\Application Data\Research In Motion
• Windows Vista®, Windows 7® and Windows 8®:  %HOMEPATH%\AppData\Local\Research In Motion
• Mac OS:  ~/Library/Research In Motion
• Unix / Linux:  ~/.rim

By default, %HOMEPATH% is C:\Documents and Settings on Windows XP and C:\Users on Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Note that a new p12 file can be created without requesting a new set of Tablet OS code signing keys from RIM.

BlackBerry OS 7.x and Lower Code Signing Keys

The files that need to be backed up are sigtool.csk and sigtool.db and are located in the directories outlined below.  Their location will vary based on the tool used to install them.  All paths below are relative to the tool's installation directory.  To restore or enable your code signing keys in another application, copy the sigtool.csk and sigtool.db to the directories outlined below.

• BlackBerry® Java® Plug-in for Eclipse®:  .\Eclipse\plugins\net.rim.ejde\vmTools
• BlackBerry® Java® Development Environment (BlackBerry  JDE):  .\BlackBerry JDE #.#.#\bin
• BlackBerry® WebWorks™ SDK:  .\BlackBerry WebWorks Packager\bin

[#2]

Unix OS location for BlackBerry Tablet OS

~/.rim

The file referred as yourkeyname.p12 is not actually called that, it is whatever develop call it.

The default one however located in ~/.keystore (on Unix), that is what other tools would use if one not specified.

Not sure how it is called on Windows, but if you run blackberry-signer without arg it should print the path.

[#3]

Wouldn't it be cool if those keys were stored (and backed up) on RIMs servers? And that all we needed to sign our apps was our BB login? Or that signing would take place when you upload your .BAR to App World...?

[#4]

If you want an easy tool to backup/restore your Signing Keys, check out SKBR, which you can download for free from http://SCrApps.org/blackberry/skbr.