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      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