Cross compilation and default methods

[Stephan Herrmann]

At JavaOne in SF I discussed with some people how a new
compiler should handle default methods found in class files
when compiling with -source 1.7 -target 1.7.
Obviously, this occurs, e.g., if no proper 1.7 JRE is
given on the bootclasspath.

Given that Eclipse users typically expect that our compiler
behaves the same as javac even in unspecified matters,
I'd like to request confirmation how javac handles this now
and in the future.

While the answer I got in SF indicated that this is a quite
unsupported situation to begin with, recent experiments
indicate, that javac does indeed employ some sophistication
to reduce the number of unexpected errors.

Could you please confirm that the following behavior is
correctly analyzed:

Given we're compiling in 1.7 mode and encounter a default
method in a class file, this information is kept during
compilation so that default methods can be specially handled
in these ways:
- clients of the interface see the default method just as
   a regular interface method, invocation is possible
   as normal.
- implementors of the interface do not see/inherit the
   default method at all, with twofold consequences:
   - implementors of the interface need not implement
     its default methods
   - the default method is not visible via the implementing
     class, not even in self calls.
- interfaces extending the given interface, do inherit
   the default method, invocation via the sub-interface
   is possible
   - implementors of the sub-interface still don't see
     the default method.

BTW, in earlier JRE versions (around b47) this caused funny
errors against implementors of Collection, which saw the
abstract method addAll() from Fillable but did not see the
non-abstract override from Collection, thus flagging a
undesirable error saying that addAll() must be implemented.

Is my above description of the behavior correct?
Is there more we should know in this area?
Is this behavior meant to stay, or should we expect any
changes before Java 8 GA?

thanks,
Stephan