Self Signed Application Validity Period
If, like me, you created your first S60 3rd Edition freeware about a year ago then about now you will be getting people saying your software install has expired!
By default, you will have signed your application to have a validity of only one year. So how can you create cert/key pair that’s valid for an arbitrary time?
First you will need openssl. The easiest place to find it is on the Symbian Signed web site - it’s part of the ‘Export TrustCenter Publisher Ids Tool’. Extract this to a directory. The download is missing a openssl.cnf file that you can Google for or download from here. Place this in the same directory.
Now open a cmd prompt, go to the directory and do…
openssl genrsa 1024 >selfsigned.key
openssl req -new -x509 -nodes -sha1 -days 6000 -config openssl.cnf -key selfsigned.key >selfsigned.cer
This example will give you a cert/key pair with a validity period of 6000 days.
By the way, if you are an end user and you can’t install an application because the certificate has expired, then just temporarily set your phone clock back. Once you have installed, you can set it forward again and the application will continue working - it’s the install that has the validity period, not the application itself.