I am learning the process of loading java class and encounter some confusion.
I know when loading a java class, current classLoader wont load the java class directly and it will delegate to its parent classLoader(a recursive process) until it parent cant load this class.
The question is that ：what is the current classLoader? Bootstrap? Extension? App?
how to get the current classLoader?.
and I know there is an API:
xxx.Class.getClassLoader();
but I am not sure whether the return value is currentClassLoader. I think it should be the classLoader which load this java class in reality.
To describe my question more detail I will give an example.
I get the follow content in a blog.
ThreadContextClassLoader is used to deal with java SPI, Interface is defined in java core lib and loaded by Bootstrap ClassLoader and third party implement these interface then the jar are loaded by AppClassLoader
Solution: traditional classLoader cant deal with this case,because it cant discovery the third party jar when we use the third party implement in core lib.
most of the above that I can understand but the solution make me confusion:
for example, the Interface CoreA and class CoreB are in java core lib and should be loaded by Bootstrap ClassLoader and the AImpl is a implement of A by third party and should be loaded by AppClass loader.
the code segment as below:
public Interface CoreA{
void add();
}
public Interface AImpl implements CoreA{
void add(){};
}
public class B{
public void demo(){
a = new AImpl();
}
}
then if we reference B in main method, then we will load B because the class loader of B is Bootstrap then about AImpl the current Loader is Bootstrap so it cant be found?
I dont know whether it is as what I guess?
Any advice will be appreciated.
Generally speaking you are right, it can't be found. Let me show you the following example. Let's say we have 3 classes: A, B and Main like these:
public class A {
public String a() {
return "a";
}
}
public class B {
public String b() {
return new A().a();
}
}
public class Main {
public static void main(String... args) {
System.out.println(new B().b());
}
}
And we package these classes into correspondent jars: a.jar, b.jar and place Main.class into the working directory. After that let's test the following scenarios:
1) Everything (A.class, B.class, Main.class) is loaded by system classloader and works fine:
$ java -cp .:a.jar:b.jar Main
a
2) B.class is loaded by system classloader and A.class is loaded by bootstrap classloader and everything still works fine because system classloader delegates loading to bootstrap classloader (just because bootstrap classloader can load it):
$ java -Xbootclasspath/a:a.jar -cp .:b.jar Main
a
3) A.class is loaded by system classloader and B.class is loaded by bootstrap classloader (your case). In this scenario during loading of B.class current classloader is bootstrap classloader, but it can't found B.class and fails:
$ java -Xbootclasspath/a:b.jar -cp .:a.jar Main
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: A
at B.b(B.java:4)
at Main.main(Main.java:4)
Lets take a look at the last example more carefully. What's happening here:
Try to find class with public static main(String[] args) method
1.1. system classloader hasn't loaded it yet so delegates to extension classloader
1.2. extension classloader hasn't loaded it yet so delegates to bootstrap classloader
1.3. bootstrap classloader hasn't loaded it yet and tries to load, it can't load it and returns control to extension classloader
1.4. extension classloader tries to load, it can't load it and returns control to system classloader
1.5. system classloader loads Main.class
Main.class is processed and we try to load B.class with current classloader system classloader
2.1. system classloader hasn't loaded it yet so delegates to extension classloader
2.2. extension classloader hasn't loaded it yet so delegates to bootstrap classloader
2.3. bootstrap classloader hasn't loaded it yet and loads B.class
B.class is processed and and we try to load A.class with current classloader bootstrap classloader
3.1. bootstrap classloader hasn't loaded it yet and tries to load and
fails
I hope it will help you.
When a class A attempts to load another class B, the ClassLoader that loaded A is the current ClassLoader. The word current vaguely refers to the execution context - e.g. how do you end up in the method that triggers the current class loading call.
There is no method - say getCurrentClassLoader - that simply gives the current ClassLoader, but there are api methods that internally use the concept of current ClassLoader. For example, Class.forName(String className)
If you check how that method is implemented, it tells you the meaning of "current class loader":
public static Class<?> forName(String className) throws ClassNotFoundException {
Class<?> caller = Reflection.getCallerClass();
return forName0(className, true, ClassLoader.getClassLoader(caller), caller);
}
If you can get hold of a Class instance, you can always ask for the loader behind it by calling Class::getClassLoader() method. That will be your current class loader. The tricky bit, however, is to decide if the loader is bootstrap, or extension, or system class loader. The reason of the trickiness is that it is implementation specific, and you can always implement your own class loading mechanism.
The example given by #dmitrievanthony is an example of how things can become really complicated. It is a similar situation faced by JNDI, and the reason why the hack Thread.getContextClassLoader() was introduced. More about it here
Quote the most relevant piece from the article:
... By definition, a current classloader loads and defines the class to which your current method belongs. This classloader is implied when dynamic links between classes resolve at runtime, and when you use the one-argument version of Class.forName(), Class.getResource(), and similar methods. It is also used by syntactic constructs like X.class class literals ...
the 'current classloader' is the real classloader(load this class in reality) of class that refer it.
e.g.
if the classLoader of class A is ext classloader and class A refer class B C D. Then the 'current classloader' of B C D is ext classLoader. And of course the 'current classLoader' of main class is System classLoader.
Related
I have this stack trace which is the FIRST time this class is loaded(I have a condition on the breakpoint for this class)....
The CompilingClassLoader is mine(ie. this one https://github.com/deanhiller/webpieces/blob/master/core/runtimecompile/src/main/java/org/webpieces/compiler/impl/CompilingClassloader.java )
I want this class that is being loaded in a way that it is plugin.getClass.getClassLoader is returning the CompilingClassLoader. Instead, it's classloader is AppClassLoader
This is causing many issues for plugin developers in that currently the workaround is a Thread context classloader. Is there a way to claim the compiling classloader loaded it but delegate to the super classloader?
The CRITICAL line is line 111 in the link above by the way. I want that line to use the super class to create the Class for me BUT I want it to look like I created the Class. ie. the Class returned should return 'my' classloader when clazz.getClassLoader() is called. this then fixes a ton of issues.
EDIT---------------------------------------
After further investigation. The CompilingClassLoader is very very tricky. You have these types of classes
Standard java.lang classes
webpieces startup classes
the applications compile on demand classes
webpieces plugin classes that sit below application classes and above them
libraries that sit below application classes AND above them
For #1, once I hit main, many of these like java.lang.Object are loaded by app classloader so this must remain true always so that you don't get the dreaded casting X to X yields ClassCastException
For #2, most of these are loaded by app classloader on startup as well
For #3, this is code that we compile OR recompile. To recompile, we throw away the CompilingClassLoader and recreate another one BUT cache bytes of all previously compiled classes that have not changed.
For #4 & #5, this is where it gets really really tricky!!! We have a ProdServerMeta (an application compiled class) that refers to plugins in webpieces and those plugins then sometimes load other application classes that need to compile on changes. Currently, we inject hibernate with the compiling classloader to avoid an issue.
The more I think about this, hibernate classes are loaded by app classloader right now because we return null when we can't compile a class delegating to the parent.
Now, I ran into these situations with CompilingClassLoader which is very hard to simplify into a classloader like Jan-Willem Gmelig Meyling's classloader below! Mainly because defineClass seems to be critical and missing in that example (and like what Olivier says below is very important).
Anyways, I ran into these things with trying the classloader below
loading of java.lang.* caused a SecurityException so I had to delegate that
After solving that, I ran into ClassCastException from SAXParserFactoryImpl to SAXParserFactoryImpl when slf4j tries to load configuration
This 2nd one makes total senses since Server.main creates a Logger and then every other class that creates a Logger creates it in a CompilingClassLoader. This leads me to the situation that
I cannot load ANYTHING that is loaded before the loading of the application
Next, being a webserver for customers, I also can't tell what is referenced in pre-app load vs. after app load.
I am coming to the conclusion that there is not a solution since as a developer writes code, I throw away the previous classloader and many classes have to continue to exist like Logger which is referenced by AppClassLoader on startup.
Of course, if I boot up with a CompilingClassLoader, I might stand a better chance in that I could 'try' to load everything perhaps but java.lang, BUT then I still run into the issue of some code after server bootup willl always be referenced by the FIRST CompilingClassLoader while later code on recompile will point to a new CompilingClassLoader.
I think the only solution then is for plugins to have to use the ContextClassLoader the more I think through this situation and that Olivier below is correct in it's not possible.
thanks,
Dean
Classloaders load classes from their parent class loaders first. You should be able to work around this by simply not setting a parent classloader for the classloader, and delegate the call for loadClass yourself.
A working example:
public class SomeClass implements Runnable {
#Override
public void run() {
System.out.println("Class loader for class: " + getClass().getClassLoader());
System.out.println("Class loader for thread: " + Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader());
System.out.println("Class loader for transitive dependency: " + SomeDependency.class.getClassLoader());
}
}
A transitive dependency:
public class SomeDependency {}
Test and classloader:
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLClassLoader;
public class Test {
public static class CustomClassLoader extends URLClassLoader {
ClassLoader delegate;
public CustomClassLoader(URL[] urls, ClassLoader parent) {
super(urls, null);
delegate = parent;
}
#Override
public Class<?> loadClass(String name) throws ClassNotFoundException {
try {
return super.loadClass(name);
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
return delegate.loadClass(name);
}
}
}
public static void main(String... args) throws Exception {
URL location = SomeClass.class.getProtectionDomain().getCodeSource().getLocation();
CustomClassLoader customClassLoader = new CustomClassLoader(new URL[] { location }, ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader());
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(customClassLoader);
Class<?> aClass = customClassLoader.loadClass("com.pkg.SomeClass");
Runnable runnable = (Runnable) aClass.newInstance();
runnable.run();
}
}
Output:
Class loader for class: com.pkg.Test$CustomClassLoader#4e50df2e
Class loader for thread: com.pkg.Test$CustomClassLoader#4e50df2e
Class loader for transitive dependency: sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader#18b4aac2
Seems to do precisely what you want :)
I'm currently trying to load classes into my application so that I can then filter out those that don't contain any test / #Test-methods. I want to run these tests in my application afterwards.
So far, so good - except it seems like the URLClassLoader I'm using (or probably any ClassLoader) doesn't actually reload classes that are located on my applications classpath.
More precisely, a user of my application starts by selecting a number of .java source files. Those are then copied to a temporary location and a number of regex match/replace pairs are applied to the copy of the original source files. Next, the copies are compiled, and I then want to load those compiled .class-files into my application so I can run them as tests.
In most cases, this works as desired.
Unfortunately, if the fully qualified class name (FQCN) of any of the selected files is identical to the FQCN of a class that is part of this application (such as tests for this application), the ClassLoader ignores the specified path (to %temp%\myfolder\) and the (updated) version of the class file located there, but instead uses the already present/loaded version of the class.
After some research, this behaviour can be expected according to the docs (emphasis mine):
• The loadClass method in ClassLoader performs these tasks, in order, when called to load a class:
- If a class has already been loaded, it returns it.
- Otherwise, it delegates the search for the new class to the parent class loader.
- If the parent class loader does not find the class, loadClass calls the method findClass to find and load the class.
I tried using findClass, but it's unfortunately not visible.
Hence my question - does anyone know how to force java / the ClassLoader to actually load the class from the specified path, ignoring any - FQCN-wise - identical existing classes?
A classloader first delegates to its parent classloader, which is how it determines "if a class has already been loaded". If you want to force a classloader to load a new class, one way is to insert another classloader in the chain which fails to load/find the same class. Very quick, incomplete example:
class FirewallLoader extends ClassLoader {
public FirewallLoader(ClassLoader parent) {
super(parent);
}
public loadClass(String name, boolean resolve) {
if (name.equals("some.class.Xyz")) {
throw ClassNotFoundException();
}
super.loadClass(name, resolve);
}
}
You make the "FirewallLoader" the parent or your URLClassLoader, and then your URLClassLoader will load new versions of whatever classes the Firewall loader filters out.
I am using reflection to get all methods from a specific class.
This class has references to class that not in my class path so I get an exception:
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError:
On this:
Method methods[] = theClass.getDeclaredMethods();
Is it possible, somehow,to "skip" everything that is not in classpath?
Class.forName() will not load a class, whether it is or isn't in the classpath. It will only return a handle to a class that is already loaded.
A class gets loaded in one of 2 main ways:
1.)The class is referenced in the import statements(java.lang.* is imported automatically so every class in java.lang package is class-loaded from the start)
2.)A class is loaded using a call from a ClassLoader, in which case all of its dependencies are resolved. and loaded as well
So if you are trying to load a class outside of the classpath, or with dependencies outside the classpath, you need to subclass ClassLoader and tell it how to load your classes and their dependencies.
See ClassLoader specification here: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/1.4.2/docs/api/java/lang/ClassLoader.html
Also, there are ready made subclasses of ClassLoader that may do what you want such as URL ClassLoader which will let you simply point the ClassLoader instance at the path, and load any classes in that path.
We know that we can override the system classloader with:
java -Djava.system.class.loader=com.test.MyClassLoader xxx
Then, since com.test.MyClassLoader itself is a class, by whom is it loaded?
How do we get the class file of this "meta" classloader?
The Bootstrap classloader is the parent of all classloaders and loads the standard JDK classes in lib directory of JRE (rt.jar and i18n.jar). All the java.* classes are loaded by this classloader.
The Extensions Classloader is the immediate child of the Bootstrap classloader. This classloader loads the classes in lib\ext directory of the JRE.
The System-Classpath classloader is the immediate child of the Extensions classloader. It loads the classes and jars specified by the CLASSPATH environment variable
You could try to inject your custom class loader by means of the java.system.class.loader property (see ClassLoader#getSystemClassLoader).
The Default System class loader is the parent for MyClassLoader instances.
From the Javadoc for ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader()
If the system property "java.system.class.loader" is defined when this method is first invoked then the value of that property is taken to be the name of a class that will be returned as the system class loader. The class is loaded using the default system class loader and must define a public constructor that takes a single parameter of type ClassLoader which is used as the delegation parent.
The default system class loader itself is specific to the JVM implementation.
Tldr:
§ ..the value of that property is taken to be the name of a class that will be returned as the system class loader. The class is loaded using the default system class loader..
..Thus, if your classloader replaces X as the system class loader, then your classloader's parent will be X, the default system class loader.
(X is of a type like sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.)
More info can be found at docs.oracle.com - How the Java Launcher Finds Classes:
The Java launcher, java, initiates the Java virtual machine. The
virtual machine searches for and loads classes in this order:
Bootstrap classes - Classes that comprise the Java platform, including the classes in rt.jar and several other important jar files.
Extension classes - Classes that use the Java Extension mechanism. These are bundled as .jar files located in the extensions directory.
User classes - Classes defined by developers and third parties that do not take advantage of the extension mechanism. You identify
the location of these classes using the -classpath option on the
command lineor by using the CLASSPATH environment variable.
Tsmr:
We can prove that X is really the parent of our Classloader:
/** run with -Djava.system.class.loader=MyCL to use this classloader */
public class MyCL extends ClassLoader {
public MyCL(ClassLoader parent) { // this constructor must be public, else IllegalAccessException
super(parent);
}
}
This is our main code:
public class Main {
public static void main(String args[]) {
System.out.println("getSystemClassLoader(): " + ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader());
ClassLoader cl = MyCL.class.getClassLoader();
System.out.println("Classloader of MyCL: " + cl);
Class type_of_cl = cl.getClass();
System.out.println("..and its type: " + type_of_cl);
ClassLoader cl_of_cl = class_of_cl.getClassLoader();
System.out.println("Classloader of (Classloader of MyCL): " + cl_of_cl);
}
}
This is the output (on my system) when run using the command java -Djava.system.class.loader=MyCL Main (cf. Eclipse run config):
getSystemClassLoader(): MyCL#1888759
Classloader of MyCL: sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader#7fdcde
..and its type: class sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader
Classloader of (Classloader of MyCL): null
We can see that MyCL's classloader is sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader, which is the default system classloader.
(Per the language as seen in Oracle's other quote above, the default system classloader is also called the classloader of "User Classes". Screw Oracle for coming up with 2 names for the same thing.)
An appropriate answer would be:
And this also clarifies the original question.
When you do,
java -Djava.system.class.loader=com.test.MyClassLoader xxx
The -D option is for setting system properties in the Properties object of the java.lang.System instance that gets loaded as part of JVM startup. The option only changes the in-memory properties. On a next invocation of the class XXX or some other class, the default properties as part of System class would be loaded again. Here, you have set the java.system.class.loader property to the value com.test.MyClassLoader. In other words, you want to override the default system class loader (also called the bootstrap class loader) with your new system class loader for this invocation of your class XXX. The default system class loader, which was loaded as part of JVM startup, would lookup the in-memory java.system.class.loader property to find the name of your overriding system class loader--if set(in your case, set to MyClassLoader)--and load it from your classpath, which is, by default, the root of your working directory (that should contain XXX) or the one in the classpath variable, either as -cp or as environment variable CLASSPATH, if defined.
If your write in the main method of your class XXX
System.out.println(ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader());
System.out.println(MyClassLoader.class.getClassLoader());
You should see
MyClassLoader
(the new system class loader that loads XXX)
sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader
(the default system class loader that loaded your new system class loader)
There are several posts about how to add jar-file to classpath at runtime by following idea:
- get current system classpath;
- suppose it is URLClassLoader;
- use reflection to set access for protected addURL method;
- use mentioned method to add url to classpath.
Here is an example:
Adding files to java classpath at runtime
Because of 2 and 3 steps this looks like "nasty hack".
How could I extend URLClassLoader and set it as a current? I am bit confused with classloaders and tried the following:
public static void main(String... args) {
URLClassLoader loader = new URLClassLoader(new URL[]{new URL("file:jxl.jar")});
System.out.println(loader.loadClass("jxl.Workbook"));
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(loader);
System.out.println(Class.forName("jxl.Workbook"));
} // main
I get ClassNotFoundException on the fourth line, while second works ok. (why it is so, by the way?)
The Class.forName method uses the "defining class loader of the current class," not the thread context classloader. In your case the ClassLoader that Class.forName will use is the one that loaded your application, i.e. the system class loader. This is a class loader that looks for resources in the class path.