package-info.java

/*
 * Copyright (c) 2005, 2006, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
 *
 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this
 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
 * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
 *
 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
 * accompanied this code).
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
 *
 * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
 * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
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 */

/**
 * Provides interfaces for tools which can be invoked from a program,
 * for example, compilers.
 *
 * <p>These interfaces and classes are required as part of the
 * Java™ Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE),
 * but there is no requirement to provide any tools implementing them.
 *
 * <p>Unless explicitly allowed, all methods in this package might
 * throw a {@linkplain java.lang.NullPointerException} if given a
 * {@code null} argument or if given a
 * {@linkplain java.lang.Iterable list or collection} containing
 * {@code null} elements.  Similarly, no method may return
 * {@code null} unless explicitly allowed.
 *
 * <p>This package is the home of the Java programming language compiler framework.  This
 * framework allows clients of the framework to locate and run
 * compilers from programs.  The framework also provides Service
 * Provider Interfaces (SPI) for structured access to diagnostics
 * ({@linkplain javax.tools.DiagnosticListener}) as well as a file
 * abstraction for overriding file access ({@linkplain
 * javax.tools.JavaFileManager} and {@linkplain
 * javax.tools.JavaFileObject}).  See {@linkplain
 * javax.tools.JavaCompiler} for more details on using the SPI.
 *
 * <p>There is no requirement for a compiler at runtime.  However, if
 * a default compiler is provided, it can be located using the
 * {@linkplain javax.tools.ToolProvider}, for example:
 *
 * <p>{@code JavaCompiler compiler = ToolProvider.getSystemJavaCompiler();}
 *
 * <p>It is possible to provide alternative compilers or tools
 * through the {@linkplain java.util.ServiceLoader service provider
 * mechanism}.
 *
 * <p>For example, if {@code com.vendor.VendorJavaCompiler} is a
 * provider of the {@code JavaCompiler} tool then its jar file
 * would contain the file {@code
 * META-INF/services/javax.tools.JavaCompiler}.  This file would
 * contain the single line:
 *
 * <p>{@code com.vendor.VendorJavaCompiler}
 *
 * <p>If the jar file is on the class path, VendorJavaCompiler can be
 * located using code like this:
 *
 * <p>{@code JavaCompiler compiler = ServiceLoader.load(JavaCompiler.class).iterator().next();}
 *
 * @author Peter von der Ahé
 * @author Jonathan Gibbons
 * @since 1.6
 */
package javax.tools;