Recently I had to debug some SSL certificate issues. Task was to use a chained certificate file in Java. I imported the files using keytool with the usual steps. Unfortunately it didn´t work.

Stay calm, I finally figured it out. While fiddling around I found two very nice things in the internet that I want to share with you.

First, I learned how to debug the SSL problems on Sun´s JSSE documentation. You will find a very comprehensible example of a Java SSL debug session.

portecle screenshot, stolen from http://portecle.sourceforge.net

But the real gem I found was Portecle, a small, overlooked utterly useful tool I wouldn´t ever remove from my tool chain. Portecle is a Swing-based frontend to JSSE keystores (it is a replacement for keytool). It actually works (In contrast to many other outdated or useless tools that fill the same gap) and beside many other things, it enables you to import chained certificate files. Check it out.