documentation around expected key types

README.md

@@ -75,6 +75,14 @@ Symmetric signing methods, such as HSA, use only a single secret. This is probab
 
 Asymmetric signing methods, such as RSA, use different keys for signing and verifying tokens. This makes it possible to produce tokens with a private key, and allow any consumer to access the public key for verification.
 
+### Signing Methods and Key Types
+
+Each signing method expects a different object type for its signing keys. See the package documentation for details. Here are the most common ones:
+
+* The [HMAC signing method](https://godoc.org/github.com/dgrijalva/jwt-go#SigningMethodHMAC) (`HS256`,`HS384`,`HS512`) expect `[]byte` values for signing and validation
+* The [RSA signing method](https://godoc.org/github.com/dgrijalva/jwt-go#SigningMethodRSA) (`RS256`,`RS384`,`RS512`) expect `*rsa.PrivateKey` for signing and `*rsa.PublicKey` for validation
+* The [ECDSA signing method](https://godoc.org/github.com/dgrijalva/jwt-go#SigningMethodECDSA) (`ES256`,`ES384`,`ES512`) expect `*ecdsa.PrivateKey` for signing and `*ecdsa.PublicKey` for validation
+
 ### JWT and OAuth
 
 It's worth mentioning that OAuth and JWT are not the same thing. A JWT token is simply a signed JSON object. It can be used anywhere such a thing is useful. There is some confusion, though, as JWT is the most common type of bearer token used in OAuth2 authentication.

ecdsa.go

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ var (
 )
 
 // Implements the ECDSA family of signing methods signing methods
+// Expects *ecdsa.PrivateKey for signing and *ecdsa.PublicKey for verification
 type SigningMethodECDSA struct {
 	Name      string
 	Hash      crypto.Hash

hmac.go

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 // Implements the HMAC-SHA family of signing methods signing methods
+// Expects key type of []byte for both signing and validation
 type SigningMethodHMAC struct {
 	Name string
 	Hash crypto.Hash

rsa.go

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 // Implements the RSA family of signing methods signing methods
+// Expects *rsa.PrivateKey for signing and *rsa.PublicKey for validation
 type SigningMethodRSA struct {
 	Name string
 	Hash crypto.Hash
@@ -44,7 +45,7 @@ func (m *SigningMethodRSA) Alg() string {
 }
 
 // Implements the Verify method from SigningMethod
-// For this signing method, must be an rsa.PublicKey structure.
+// For this signing method, must be an *rsa.PublicKey structure.
 func (m *SigningMethodRSA) Verify(signingString, signature string, key interface{}) error {
 	var err error
 
@@ -73,7 +74,7 @@ func (m *SigningMethodRSA) Verify(signingString, signature string, key interface
 }
 
 // Implements the Sign method from SigningMethod
-// For this signing method, must be an rsa.PrivateKey structure.
+// For this signing method, must be an *rsa.PrivateKey structure.
 func (m *SigningMethodRSA) Sign(signingString string, key interface{}) (string, error) {
 	var rsaKey *rsa.PrivateKey
 	var ok bool