RFC (csr): 8221528: Introduce compatibility mode with VM option -XX:AllowRedefinitionToAddOrDeleteMethods

Andrew Dinn adinn at redhat.com
Thu Mar 28 11:28:17 UTC 2019


On 28/03/2019 11:22, David Holmes wrote:
> On 28/03/2019 8:32 pm, Thomas Stüfe wrote:
>> If you provide a backward compatibility switch which is not well
>> tested, the coding behind it may bitrot; then, when you want to use
>> it, you would run into errors. That is worse than not having that switch.
> 
> AFAIK we don't actively test this code currently, so in that sense it
> can bitrot even without the flag. Serguei can correct me if I am wrong
> here.
I believe Serguei's spec suggested deprecation of the compatibility
feature from the get go. So, this means the outcome is down to a race
between the bit-rot and the deprecation axe. If bit-rot wins then isn't
that simply the deprecation axe swinging a tad earlier? (i.e. de facto
deprecation rather than de jure :-).

regards,


Andrew Dinn
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Senior Principal Software Engineer
Red Hat UK Ltd
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