1 /* 2 * Copyright (c) 2003, 2004, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 3 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER. 4 * 5 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it 6 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as 7 * published by the Free Software Foundation. Oracle designates this 8 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided 9 * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code. 10 * 11 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT 12 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or 13 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License 14 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that 15 * accompanied this code). 16 * 17 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version 18 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, 19 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA. 20 * 21 * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA 22 * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any 23 * questions. 24 */ 25 26 package java.lang.annotation; 27 28 /** 29 * Annotation retention policy. The constants of this enumerated type 30 * describe the various policies for retaining annotations. They are used 31 * in conjunction with the {@link Retention} meta-annotation type to specify 32 * how long annotations are to be retained. 33 * 34 * @author Joshua Bloch 35 * @since 1.5 36 */ 37 public enum RetentionPolicy { 38 /** 39 * Annotations are to be discarded by the compiler. 40 */ 41 SOURCE, 42 43 /** 44 * Annotations are to be recorded in the class file by the compiler 45 * but need not be retained by the VM at run time. This is the default 46 * behavior. 47 */ 48 CLASS, 49 50 /** 51 * Annotations are to be recorded in the class file by the compiler and 52 * retained by the VM at run time, so they may be read reflectively. 53 * 54 * @see java.lang.reflect.AnnotatedElement 55 */ 56 RUNTIME 57 } 58