RFR: 8223260: NamingManager should cache InitialContextFactory

[Alan Bateman]

On 05/02/2020 11:53, Peter Levart wrote:
> :
>
> Please, include me in the conversation. I would like to know whether 
> this is really possible, because I think it is not. If the 
> implementation class / provider type is resolved using thread's 
> context class loader, then it is the responsibility of the service 
> implementation to only reference such objects that are backed by 
> classes that are also resolvable by the same class loader. If service 
> implementation does not respect that, then class loader leaks are 
> inevitable even if you don't cache the service implementation instance 
> (in your case the InitialContextFactory). So I think there's no point 
> in wrapping the InitialContextFactory with SoftReference. You only 
> complicate things as you would have to account for situations where 
> the SoftReference is cleared...
> Anybody has a different view?
I think this is about allow the InitialContextFactory instance to be 
GC'ed when the thread is long lived. It might not be a concern for the 
LDAP or the other providers in the JDK.

-Alan