Set up for signing BlackBerry 7 and earlier apps

Requesting and registering your keys

Before you can sign your application, you need to obtain code signing keys and then register those keys.

1. To request code signing keys, visit https://www.blackberry.com/SignedKeys and complete the BlackBerry Keys Order Form.

   Remember the PIN that you provided because you'll need it later on to register your keys.

2. After your application is accepted, you will receive three CSI registration files (client-RBB-999999999.csi, client-RRT-999999999.csi, client-RCR-999999999.csi) by email. Each file arrives in a separate email message with information about the purpose of the file attached.
3. Save the three CSI files that you received in the following directory:
   • Windows XP: C:\Program Files\Research In Motion\BlackBerry WebWorks SDK <version>\bin
   • Windows 7: C:\Program Files (x86)\Research In Motion\BlackBerry WebWorks SDK <version>\bin
   • Mac OS: /Developer/SDKs/Research In Motion/BlackBerry WebWorks SDK <version>/bin
4. Now that you've received the CSI files, you need to register your keys with the RIM Signing Authority. At a command prompt, navigate to the bin directory that's listed above.
5. Type the following command and then press ENTER:

   java -jar SignatureTool.jar [CSI file name].csi

   If you chose to save the CSI files in a different location than what's suggested in step 3, you'll need to provide the full path to the CSI file (for example, C:\mykeys\client-RBB-123456789.csi) in this command.

6. If a dialog box appears that indicates that a private key cannot be found, perform the following actions:

   
   

   
   
   
   1. Click Yes.
   2. In the Password field, type a password of at least 8 characters. This is your private key password which protects your private key.

      If you lose this password, you must register with RIM again. If this password is stolen, contact RIM immediately to revoke your key.

   3. In the Confirm field, re-type your password.
   4. Click OK.
   5. Move the mouse to generate random data for the new private key.
7. In the Registration PIN field, type either the PIN that you provided to RIM on the keys order form, or the PIN that was provided for this particular CSI file.
8. Click Register. The BlackBerry Signature Tool will attempt to register your key.
9. After your registration completes successfully, click Exit. You'll receive an email message confirming that you successfully registered your key.
10. Now register the two remaining CSI files by repeating steps 5 through 9.

    Remember that your:

    • Registration PIN is the PIN that you used on the keys order form.
    • Private Key Password is the password you created in step 6.

Back up your files

The CSI files that you 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. Code signing keys can be restored to the original computer that they were installed on or restored to another computer. You can also use this information to transfer your code signing keys to multiple computers and sign from any of them.

The files that need to be backed up are sigtool.csk and sigtool.db, which are located in the following directory:

• Windows XP: C:\Program Files\Research In Motion\BlackBerry WebWorks SDK <version>\bin
• Windows Vista and Windows 7: C:\Program Files (x86)\Research In Motion\BlackBerry WebWorks SDK <version>\bin
• Mac OS: /Developer/SDKs/Research In Motion/BlackBerry WebWorks SDK <version>/bin

After an SDK upgrade

If you upgraded the BlackBerry WebWorks SDK for Smartphones and you want to use the signing keys that you created by a previous version of the SDK, copy the sigtool.csk and sigtool.db from the bin folder of the previous SDK version to the bin folder of the new version of the SDK.