Java InstallCert.java
A commonly accepted solution to the Java error "unable to find valid certification path to requested target" is to run the InstallCert code, a short program written by Sun which "fixes" the above problem.
Sun obviously is now defunct, but various copies of the InstallCert.java code are kicking about the place.
The problem is - it doesn't work. And it seems to stem from a common misunderstanding of how SSL/TLS works and it is rife within the Java development community.
A server secured with SSL will present a certificate chain to the client with relevant certificates. The first certificate is the certificate proper. For example, if my website presents a chain, the first certificate in that chain is the one with the name that matches my website. All fine and good. It is this proper certificate that is the public part of the public/private asymmetric encryption. If you have this X509 public part you can decrypt.
But, with Public Key Infrastructure things go further to verify the integrity, as encryption without integrity is completely pointless (and potentially more dangerous due to false-sense-of-security). In PKI we use a Certificate Authority to sign certificates. This Certificate Authority is considered trusted to verify the identify of the web-site owner and guarantee that through a signed certificate. Whether you agree with operating system, Oracle and browser manufacturers deciding who should be trusted or not is a whole other debate.
The bundled trusted certificate authorities have their public certificate already installed on your system as such, there is no reason for a server to provide yet another copy of it. Generally it is considered best practice not to include the root CA in your certificate chain, just any intermediate authorities. If the client doesn't already have the certificate then it's not going to validate anyway.
What this means is, when running the InstallCert program, you will most likely be presented with the server certificate proper, but not the root certificate and it is most likely that the reason for the error is due to a missing root CA certificate in the Java trust store. Thus, you get nowhere fast.
The correct way to fix it is to manually import the relevant certificate authority certificate into the Java store. If the root CA isn't in the chain, you'll have to ask the server administrator for a copy.
Find your JRE directory and run:
bin/keytool -keystore lib/security/cacerts -import -trustcacerts -alias [shortname] -file /my/ca.crt
You'll be prompted for a password, as obviously your store needs to be kept secure (you did change it didn't you?). The default password being "changeit". Finally by typing "yes" when asked to confirm.
And that's it. No compiling programs. Simply add the certificate to the store.