ssl.SSLError when sending Push message using PyAPNS

Question

I've been trying to access the APNS in order to send push notifications to an iOS app I develop. I have created a development and production certificate requests and signed them on the Apple dev center:

My certificates

For each certificate (production and development), I have three files:

1. aps_development.cer: A.cer` file I have downloaded from Apple after signing the certificate request.
2. dev.pem: A .pem public key file from the OSX keychain.
3. dev.p12: A .p12 private key file from the OSX keychain, with password (and dev_nopass.p12: A .p12 private key file from the OSX keychain, with password).

What I've tried

1. Cloned and installed PyAPNs form github (The PyPi version seems a bit old and causes import errors.).
2. Adapted the example code to:

from apns import APNs, Frame, Payload

p12 = '/path/to/dev.p12'
p12_nopass = '/path/to/dev_nopass.p12'
pem = '/path/to/dev.pem'
cer = '/path/to/aps_development.cer'

apns = APNs(use_sandbox=True,
            cert_file=pem,
            key_file=p12_nopass)

# Send a notification
# Dummy token, but it does not cause the error (SSL fails before token check)
token_hex = 'b5bb9d8014a0f9b1d61e21e796d78dccdf1352f23cd32812f4850b87'
payload = Payload(alert="Hello World!", sound="default", badge=1)
apns.gateway_server.send_notification(token_hex, payload)

Result:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "apple_push_driver.py", line 18, in <module>
    apns.gateway_server.send_notification(token_hex, payload)
  File "/path_to/site-packages/apns.py", line 381, in send_notification
    self.write(self._get_notification(token_hex, payload))
  File "/path_to/apns.py", line 174, in write
    return self._connection().write(string)
  File "/path_to/apns.py", line 167, in _connection
    self._connect()
  File "/path_to/apns.py", line 151, in _connect
    self._ssl = wrap_socket(self._socket, self.key_file, self.cert_file)
  File "/path_to/ssl.py", line 387, in wrap_socket
    ciphers=ciphers)
  File "/path_to/ssl.py", line 141, in __init__
    ciphers)
ssl.SSLError: [Errno 336265225] _ssl.c:351: error:140B0009:SSL routines:SSL_CTX_use_PrivateKey_file:PEM lib

I tried both p12 and p12_nopass, production and dev, and got the same results.

Any idea why I can't make SSL connection in order to send a Push notification via PyAPNs?

Answer 1

The problem was using the original .p12 / cer. files. They should be converted to pem file, using the fine instructions here.