Module name as new Manifest Entry

[mark.reinhold at oracle.com]

2016/3/11 12:25:52 -0800, pbenedict at apache.org:
> For consideration by the EG:
> 
> Based on some discussion [1], there is at least one tool like the Maven
> Compiler Plugin that only requires a Java 1.6 runtime. That means there is
> no native way for it to access the module name in a Java 1.9 JAR. One
> possible solution is to use a third-party class reader which knows how to
> interpret the new class file format.
> 
> On the other hand, Java has supported reading the Manifest file since
> version 1.2. This API is available to older Java runtimes. If Java 9
> allowed a new Manifest entry for the module name, older runtimes could then
> easily retrieve the module name using existing API.
> 
> Furthermore, it would allow library providers who still support pre-Java 9
> to provide a de facto module name when dropped in as an "automatic module"
> [2]. I personally don't find it tenable that artifacts in the Maven
> repository will ever be renamed to have a decent working module name that's
> usable in "automatic module" mode.
> 
> PS: I am not proposing the Manifest entry replace the module name in
> module-info.java. This is only to ease migration of legacy libraries in
> "automatic module" mode.

New issue: http://openjdk.java.net/projects/jigsaw/spec/issues/#ModuleNameInManifest

- Mark