Multiple entry points requirement

[Mandy Chung]

  I think the multiple entry points should be added to the requirement.

There are several tools in the JDK that would be best if they can be 
packaged in a single module with multiple entry points.  For example, 
jps, jstat, jstack, jmap, etc are the JDK command-line tools that are in 
tools.jar and each has its own entry point.   Each of the tool has only 
one or few classes and they are diagnosability tools that make sense to 
be packaged and installed together.  The JDK would benefit from the 
multiple entry points to avoid unnecessary fine-grained modules.

Mandy

On 6/29/11 2:10 AM, Alex Buckley wrote:
> I recall discussion of different entrypoints when a module is used in 
> different contexts, e.g. applet v. command-line launcher.
>
> However, the Java Module System requirements don't say anything about 
> this, so I stuck with a solitary, unqualified 'class ...' construct in 
> the module declaration. The closest "context-aware" requirement is 
> that a module "can be used both as a JAR on the class path and 
> installed as a module in a module library".
>
> Alex
>
> On 6/28/2011 10:41 AM, Roger Riggs wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Thanks for the writeup of jigsaw modules.
>>
>> This is  more of a comment on the module compilation unit grammar
>> and the choice of keywords and semantics.
>>   http://openjdk.java.net/projects/jigsaw/doc/topics/grammar.html
>>
>> The "class" keyword in the module-info.java sticks out as an awkward 
>> usage.
>> There are plenty of classes in the module.  The significance the class
>> is that it is a/the main class.  The keyword should identify the 
>> usage of the class.
>> "main" would be more meaningful and intuitive.
>>
>> The "class" keyword is being overloaded. While it identifies a main 
>> class it is
>> also being used to indicate module is the root of the static context for
>> the module as a whole and the class name is not relevant to that 
>> function.
>>
>> A separate keyword defining the module as requiring a static context
>> would clearer to separate the semantics of the entry point from the 
>> "classloader"
>> behavior.
>>
>> Can a module, like a jar file could contain multiple classes with 
>> main methods?
>> In current usage, for jar files, the main class can be given on the 
>> command line
>> allowing multiple applications to share the overhead of packaging.
>> Having a solitary entry point may result in extra overhead because 
>> each application
>> must be in a separate module.
>>
>> Roger