/*
* @(#)RetentionPolicy.java 1.5 05/11/17
*
* Copyright 2006 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
* SUN PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms.
*/
package java.lang.annotation;
/**
* Annotation retention policy. The constants of this enumerated type
* describe the various policies for retaining annotations. They are used
* in conjunction with the {@link Retention} meta-annotation type to specify
* how long annotations are to be retained.
*
* @author Joshua Bloch
* @since 1.5
*/
public enum RetentionPolicy {
/**
* Annotations are to be discarded by the compiler.
*/
SOURCE,
/**
* Annotations are to be recorded in the class file by the compiler
* but need not be retained by the VM at run time. This is the default
* behavior.
*/
CLASS,
/**
* Annotations are to be recorded in the class file by the compiler and
* retained by the VM at run time, so they may be read reflectively.
*
* @see java.lang.reflect.AnnotatedElement
*/
RUNTIME
}