[External] : Re: RFR: 8231436: Fix the applicability of a no- at Target annotation type

[Alex Buckley]

On 2/11/2021 11:28 AM, Liam Miller-Cushon wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 11, 2021 at 9:52 AM Alex Buckley <alex.buckley at oracle.com 
> <mailto:alex.buckley at oracle.com>> wrote:
> 
>     On 2/9/2021 6:34 AM, Brian Goetz wrote:
>      > So I agree with Joe that:
>      >
>      >> I think it can be reasonable to interpret lack of @Target to mean
>      >> "usable in any declaration context," but ill-advised to silently
>      >> reinterpret absence of a @Target to indicate types and
>     declarations.
>      >
>      > and prefer that we leave the existing interpretation of "all
>     declaration
>      > contexts" for NTAs.
> 
>     Thanks Brian. I will proceed with that policy by filing a new spec bug
>     to overrule JDK-8231435.
> 
> 
> Thanks all. I will close this review.

I have filed spec bug https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8261610

Since the javac bug JDK-8231436 never got beyond New status, I think it 
would be reasonable to use it as the carrier for javac changes connected 
with the new spec bug.

> To confirm, is there still consensus that "all declaration contexts" for 
> NTAs includes declaration contexts introduced in later language levels, 
> i.e. NTAs should be applicable to module declarations in Java >= 9, and 
> that it's OK to proceed with JDK-8261088?

Yes. The spec bug discusses the open-ended nature of "all declaration 
contexts", including that it captures module declarations added in 9. 
For JDK-8261088, the anno.interface T (applicable in all declaration 
contexts, including modules) should be able to nominate a containing 
anno.interface that's applicable in only the module declaration context.

Alex