Policytool is a utility program which can be used to view and edit the contents of policy files. Policytool is part of the Harmony SE project, and the executable is located at the /bin and /jre/bin directories.
A policy file is a plain-text file with a .policy extension, that maps remote requestors by domain, to permission objects. Policytool is implemented in Java, therefore making it easier to call it from java programs, to reuse its parts, and is ready as-is for cross platform usage.
It basically has only one command line parameter: the policy file name to load by default. Syntax:
policytool -file filename
It is compatible with Sun's policytool, and comes with new features:
*Viewing and editing the policy file directly in a built-in text editor (text area with synchronized content with the well-known GUI).
*Parses and remembers comments between policy entries in the policy file/text. Sun's policytool takes out all comments...
*The warning log dialog is non-modal which is a lot more useful here because we support direct editing, and switching between the editor panels can generate errors/warnings frequently (not just when opening a new file or validating form values). The warning log can be open while we edit the policy text in any editor. If we use the "View warnign Log" menu while it's visible, it will be centered again.
The UI of the original policytool looks quite simple as it does not uses swing components or any other external libraries. Policytool is implemented with swing therefore giving a richer UI:
*buttons and menus with mnemonics
*tabbed pane for the 2 editing panel
*components belonging together are grouped in a titled border
Check out the policytool development page: PolicytoolDev
Link to the Sun's policytool reference page: http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/technotes/tools/windows/policytool.html