Should we create a compiler independent module tool?

[Jochen Theodorou]

Hi all,

I am wondering for quite a while already if there should not be an javac 
(and possibly jdk9) independent tool for handling module. I think the 
idea for such a tool would be a bit against several decision that have 
been taken by the jigsaw project, so bare with me, I am trying to be 
constructive here not trolling ;)

What such a tool could do:
* after compiling sources you can add module information
* let the tool check for module access rules
* read and extract module information from multi release jars
* allow alternative compiler to be "enhanced" with jdk9 module creation 
capabilities.. for example joint compilers
* let any build tool use the normal classpath logic to add module 
information in a later step
* being independent of the JDK means (and only on ASM6) to able to use 
JDK7 or 8 and still to be able to produce a module, if no JDK9 specific 
actions are to be taken
* provide a base for other tools for things missing in JDK9, like the 
proper handling of information extraction from multirelease jars (see 
'Scanning Modules(take 2)?' on this list)
* we can have some JDK10 functions in JDK9

If there is interest to create such a tool with a nice license (Apache 2 
for example) I would be happy to try to channel efforts and help 
creating this. I may end up doing this by myself, but then it is likely 
to be used only by my projects and I think it would be a shame not to 
have this wider spread and more people involved.

bye Jochen