RFR: 8179915: Update extLink taglet to allow not linking the description

[Magnus Ihse Bursie]

Kumar,

This was not an improvement. This will require additional changes in the build system to avoid a regression. I see no reason for that. 

In fact, I propose we close the bug as WNF. Let me elaborate. 

The problem here is that Oracle has dual roles: partly as a contributor to OpenJDK, and partly as a independent company that wants to contribute to the Java ecosystem outside of the OpenJDK project. 

To Oracle's credit, most of the documentation provided goes into the OpenJDK project (and repositories). For some reason or reasons, Oracle chose to not so so with all Java-related documentation, typically user guides etc. 

The crucial question is then: should the OpenJDK documentation point to the (proprietary) Oracle documentation?

From the OpenJDK perspective, the ideal would be if the documentation was included with the OpenJDK distribution, but if that is not going to happen, then what is the best for the project?

I would argue that it is still better to link to the Oracle documents than to not do it. We have no qualms linking to other third party sites where suitable and helpful to the reader, and this is no different. 

(Yes, I have changed my opinion about this.)

This is not a question about what the Oracle JDK will do, since it will definitely link to the Oracle guides no matter what. What I'm thinking of is if the OpenJDK in any way would be considered helped by *not* linking to publicly available documentation on Oracle's web site. I can't see any such reason, and therefore, I see no reason not to link, making this addition unnecessary. 

That said, I hope that in due time, Oracle will consider adding more of the documentation to the OpenJDK project, if it seems reasonable that it belongs here. 

/Magnus

> 11 maj 2017 kl. 22:51 skrev Kumar Srinivasan <kumar.x.srinivasan at oracle.com>:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Changes in this webrev:
> * inverted the logic as you suggested
> * some doc comment changes to reflect the change
> 
> http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~ksrini/8179915/webrev.1/
> 
> Thanks
> Kumar
> 
>> On 5/10/2017 7:19 PM, David Holmes wrote:
>>> On 11/05/2017 3:18 AM, Kumar Srinivasan wrote:
>>> 
>>>> On 5/10/2017 9:51 AM, Erik Joelsson wrote:
>>>> Should this be set on the javadoc command line somewhere or am I
>>>> missing something?
>>> 
>>> Yes, one would have to set this prop, via the build system, when
>>> performing a non-oracle build.
>> 
>> Shouldn't that be inverted then - given there is only 1 Oracle build and potentially innumerable non-Oracle builds? The default should be to not link unless the property is set.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> David
>> 
>>> Kumar
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> /Erik
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> On 2017-05-10 09:42, Kumar Srinivasan wrote:
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>> 
>>>>> Please review fix for the custom taglet to allow openjdk builds, in
>>>>> which case
>>>>> the property "build.tools.taglet.ExtLink.NO_LINK" must be set to
>>>>> inhibit server
>>>>> side lookups.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Thanks
>>>>> Kumar
>>>>> 
>>>>> Webrev: http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~ksrini/8179915/webrev.0
>>>>> JBS: https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8179915
>