`requires static` versus service binding

[Alex Buckley]

On 1/13/2025 9:37 AM, Alan Bateman wrote:
> `requires static` was added to support annotations that aren't needed at 
> runtime, and also some configuration cases. I don't think support for 
> optional service interfaces has been ruled out but it's more complex to 
> specify that it might appear.

Alan and I have been discussing resolution of services that were present 
at compile time but are missing at run time. See the comments in 
https://bugs.openjdk.org/browse/JDK-8299504 (bearing in mind that the 
Java Bug System now shows newest-first by default).

As Alan says, this is a complex matter because of `transitive` 
dependencies and qualified exports. It reasons about relationships 
between entities declared in the program (modules) in a way that is more 
reminiscent of language design than library design. We think we've got 
the shape of things nailed down, but continue to polish it.

Alex