ClassFileTransformer does not apply to anonymous classes

[John Rose]

VM anonymous classes are an implementation detail that is
opaque to system components except for the lowest layers of
the JDK runtime and the JVM itself.  Transformers and other
instrumentation should not look inside them expecting to interpose
on their behavior.  Ideally we should not make them visible at all,
but sometimes it helps (e.g., with single stepping through BCs).

VM anonymous classes may be (and are) replaced or interchanged
unpredictably with similar mechanisms, such as JNI-based
reflection, or indirect invocation via MemberName tokens.

You can't rely on any of this meaning what you think it means,
even if it appears to have a classfile structure.  Even if you
were able to "transform" one of these classfiles, it wouldn't
necessary do what you think it should do, because its structure
is a private internal-only contract of the JDK and JVM.

And, as you probably have already noticed, the number and
structure of these VMAC classfiles change over time.
We may (at some point) replace the classes with some
completely different internal representation, which,
even if it is visible somehow to instrumentation, cannot
meaningfully be parsed and re-implemented.

Likewise, lambdas are translated into inner classes, but
this also can change at any time; the metafactory API
makes few or no promises as to the internal structure
of the invokedynamic binding.  In fact, some JVMs use
special polymorphic nodes, instead of the standard
inner-class translation.  Suddenly, some or all of these
classfiles may disappear, when the runtime begins to
optimize them differently.

Please don't lead your users to rely on them.

I second Vladimir's suggestion, that the only sane way
to interpose on lambdas is to transform the class that
defines the lambda (including perhaps the parameters
of the indy that create the lambda), and not dig into
system internals.  System internals are nothing like
user code, and cannot be transformed like user code.

Sorry to bear bad news,

— John