1 /*

     2  * Copyright 2003-2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  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.  Sun designates this

     8  * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided

     9  * by Sun 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 Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara,

    22  * CA 95054 USA or visit www.sun.com if you need additional information or

    23  * have any questions.

    24  */

    25 

    26 package java.lang.annotation;

    27 

    28 /**

    29  * Indicates that an annotation type is automatically inherited.  If

    30  * an Inherited meta-annotation is present on an annotation type

    31  * declaration, and the user queries the annotation type on a class

    32  * declaration, and the class declaration has no annotation for this type,

    33  * then the class's superclass will automatically be queried for the

    34  * annotation type.  This process will be repeated until an annotation for this

    35  * type is found, or the top of the class hierarchy (Object)

    36  * is reached.  If no superclass has an annotation for this type, then

    37  * the query will indicate that the class in question has no such annotation.

    38  *

    39  * <p>Note that this meta-annotation type has no effect if the annotated

    40  * type is used to annotate anything other than a class.  Note also

    41  * that this meta-annotation only causes annotations to be inherited

    42  * from superclasses; annotations on implemented interfaces have no

    43  * effect.

    44  *

    45  * @author  Joshua Bloch

    46  * @since 1.5

    47  */

    48 @Documented

    49 @Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)

    50 @Target(ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE)

    51 public @interface Inherited {

    52 }