RFR 8022126: Remove throws SocketException from DatagramPacket constructors accepting SocketAddress

[Alan Bateman]

On 06/08/2013 08:32, Chris Hegarty wrote:
> This is a followup to the recent discussion on:
>   http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/net-dev/2013-July/006889.html
>   (cont'd) 
> http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/net-dev/2013-August/006914.html
>
> Two DatagramPacket constructors declare that they throw SocketException.
>
>      DatagramPacket(byte[] buf, int len, SocketAddress sa) throws 
> SocketException
>      DatagramPacket(byte[] buf, int off, int len, SocketAddress sa) 
> throws SocketException
>
> As it happens 'throws SE' was incorrectly added to these constructors 
> when introduced in 1.4. The original API specified that SE was thrown 
> when the given SocketAddress was not supported. That was later changed 
> to throw IAE, in 1.4.2. These constructor now can never throw SE.
>
> Removing 'throws SE' from the method declaration is a binary 
> compatible change, but not source compatible ( XXX is never thrown in 
> body of corresponding try statement ).
>
> The conclusion of the discussion is that since these constructors are 
> not that widely used (the InetAddress+port variants are more popular). 
> Where they are, the affected code typically sends the packet, which 
> requires handling of IOException anyway.
>
> A note will be added to the jdk8 release notes documenting this 
> incompatibility.
While it a source incompatible change, I think it's the right thing to do.

The patch looks fine to me (if you want then the declaration will 
probably fit on one line now).

-Alan.