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Java 9, compatability issue with ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader

The following code adds jar file to the build path, it works fine with Java 8. However, it throws exception with Java 9, the exception is related to the cast to URLClassLoader. Any ideas how this can be solved? an optimal solution will edit it to work with both Java 8 & 9.
private static int AddtoBuildPath(File f) {
try {
URI u = f.toURI();
URLClassLoader urlClassLoader = (URLClassLoader) ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader();
Class<URLClassLoader> urlClass = URLClassLoader.class;
Method method = urlClass.getDeclaredMethod("addURL", URL.class);
method.setAccessible(true);
method.invoke(urlClassLoader, u.toURL());
} catch (NoSuchMethodException | SecurityException | IllegalArgumentException | InvocationTargetException | MalformedURLException | IllegalAccessException ex) {
return 1;
}
return 0;
}

You've run into the fact that the system class loader is no longer a URLClassLoader. As indicated by ClassLoader::getSystemClassLoader's return type, this was an implementation detail, albeit one that a non-negligible amount of code relied upon.
Judging by the comments, you are looking for a way to dynamically load classes at run time. As Alan Bateman points out, this can not be done in Java 9 by appending to the class path.
You should instead consider creating a new class loader for that. This has the added advantage that you'll be able to get rid of the new classes as they are not loaded into the application class loader. If you're compiling against Java 9, you should read up on layers - they give you a clean abstraction for loading an entirely new module graph.

I have stumbled over this issue a while ago. As many, I had used a method similar to that in the question
private static int AddtoBuildPath(File f)
to dynamically add paths to the classpath at runtime. The code in the question is probably bad style in multiple aspects: 1) assuming that ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader() returns an URLClassLoader is an undocumented implementation detail and 2) using reflection to make addURL public is maybe another one.
Cleaner way to dynamically add classpaths
In case that you need to use the additional classpath URLs for class loading through „Class.forName“, a clean, elegant and compatible (Java 8 to 10) solution is the following:
1) Write your own class loader by extending URL classloader, having a public addURL method
public class MyClassloader extends URLClassLoader {
public MyClassloader(URL[] urls, ClassLoader parent) {
super(urls, parent);
}
public void addURL(URL url) {
super.addURL(url);
}
}
2) Declare a (singleton/app wide) object of your classloader
private final MyClassloader classLoader;
and instanciate it via
classLoader = new MyClassloader(new URL[0], this.getClass().getClassLoader());
Note: The system class loader is the parent. Classes loaded though classLoader know those who can be loaded through this.getClass().getClassLoader() but not the other way around.
3) Add additional classpaths whenever needed (dynamically):
File file = new File(path);
if(file.exists()) {
URL url = file.toURI().toURL();
classLoader.addURL(url);
}
4) Instanciate objects or your app though your singleton classloader via
cls = Class.forName(name, true, classLoader);
Note: Since class loaders try a delegation to the parent class loader prior loading a class (and the parent to its parent), you have to make sure that the class to load is not visible to the parent class loader to make sure that it is loaded through the given class loader. To make this clearer: if you have ClassPathB on your system class path and later add ClassPathB and some ClassPathA to your custom classLoader, then classes under ClassPathB will be loaded through the system classloader and classes under ClassPathA are not known to them. However, if you remove ClassPathB from you system class path, such classes will be loaded through your custom classLoader, and then classes under ClassPathA are known to those under ClassPathB.
5) You may consider passing your class loader to a thread via
setContextClassLoader(classLoader)
in case that thread uses getContextClassLoader.

If you're just looking to read the current classpath, for example because you want to spin up another JVM with the same classpath as the current one, you can do the following:
object ClassloaderHelper {
def getURLs(classloader: ClassLoader) = {
// jdk9+ need to use reflection
val clazz = classloader.getClass
val field = clazz.getDeclaredField("ucp")
field.setAccessible(true)
val value = field.get(classloader)
value.asInstanceOf[URLClassPath].getURLs
}
}
val classpath =
(
// jdk8
// ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader.asInstanceOf[URLClassLoader].getURLs ++
// getClass.getClassLoader.asInstanceOf[URLClassLoader].getURLs
// jdk9+
ClassloaderHelper.getURLs(ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader) ++
ClassloaderHelper.getURLs(getClass.getClassLoader)
)
By default the final fields in the $AppClassLoader class cannot be accesed via reflection, an extra flag needs to be passed to the JVM:
--add-opens java.base/jdk.internal.loader=ALL-UNNAMED

I was given a spring boot application that runs in Java 8. I had the task to upgrade it to Java 11 version.
Issue faced:
Caused by: java.lang.ClassCastException: jdk.internal.loader.ClassLoaders$AppClassLoader (in module: java.base) cannot be cast to java.net.URLClassLoader (in module: java.base)
Way around used:
Create a class:
import java.net.URL;
/**
* This class has been created to make the code compatible after migration to Java 11
* From the JDK 9 release notes: "The application class loader is no longer an instance of
* java.net.URLClassLoader (an implementation detail that was never specified in previous releases).
* Code that assumes that ClassLoader.getSytemClassLoader() returns a URLClassLoader object will
* need to be updated. Note that Java SE and the JDK do not provide an API for applications or
* libraries to dynamically augment the class path at run-time."
*/
public class ClassLoaderConfig {
private final MockClassLoader classLoader;
ClassLoaderConfig() {
this.classLoader = new MockClassLoader(new URL[0], this.getClass().getClassLoader());
}
public MockClassLoader getClassLoader() {
return this.classLoader;
}
}
Create Another class:
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLClassLoader;
public class MockClassLoader extends URLClassLoader {
public MockClassLoader(URL[] urls, ClassLoader parent) {
super(urls, parent);
}
public void addURL(URL url) {
super.addURL(url);
}
}
Now set it in the current thread from your main class (Right at the beginning of your application)
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(new ClassLoaderConfig().getClassLoader());
Hope this solution works for your!!!

Shadov pointed to a thread at the oracle community. There is the correct answer:
Class.forName("nameofclass", true, new URLClassLoader(urlarrayofextrajarsordirs));
The caveats mentioned there are also important:
Caveats:
java.util.ServiceLoader uses the thread's ClassLoader context Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(specialloader);
java.sql.DriverManager does honors the calling class' ClassLoader, -not- the Thread's ClassLoader. Create Driver directly using Class.forName("drivername", true, new URLClassLoader(urlarrayofextrajarsordirs).newInstance();
javax.activation uses the thread's ClassLoader context (important for javax.mail).

Referring to Edi's Solution this worked for me:
public final class IndependentClassLoader extends URLClassLoader {
private static final ClassLoader INSTANCE = new IndependentClassLoader();
/**
* #return instance
*/
public static ClassLoader getInstance() {
return INSTANCE;
}
private IndependentClassLoader() {
super(getAppClassLoaderUrls(), null);
}
private static URL[] getAppClassLoaderUrls() {
return getURLs(IndependentClassLoader.class.getClassLoader());
}
private static URL[] getURLs(ClassLoader classLoader) {
Class<?> clazz = classLoader.getClass();
try {
Field field = null;
field = clazz.getDeclaredField("ucp");
field.setAccessible(true);
Object urlClassPath = field.get(classLoader);
Method method = urlClassPath.getClass().getDeclaredMethod("getURLs", new Class[] {});
method.setAccessible(true);
URL[] urls = (URL[]) method.invoke(urlClassPath, new Object[] {});
return urls;
} catch (Exception e) {
throw new NestableRuntimeException(e);
}
}
}
Running within Eclipse, you need to set VM Arguments to JUnit Launch/Debug Configuration.
Running with maven via command line you have two options:
Option 1
Add following lines to pom.xml :
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.16</version>
<configuration>
<argLine>--add-opens java.base/jdk.internal.loader=ALL-UNNAMED</argLine>
</configuration>
</plugin>
Option 2
run mvn test -DargLine="-Dsystem.test.property=--add-opens java.base/jdk.internal.loader=ALL-UNNAMED"

There's also this guys article that helped me.
I could not find the article but... here: https://github.com/CGJennings/jar-loader
Here's a part of guide inside there there's a jar at release you could read his guide & setup it up.
I just tried it myself download the jar file which include the class file
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.lang.instrument.Instrumentation;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLClassLoader;
import java.util.jar.JarFile;
public final class classname{
public static void premain(String agentArgs, Instrumentation instrumentation) {
loadedViaPreMain = true;
agentmain(agentArgs,instrumentation);
}
public final static void addToClassPath(File jarfile)throws IOException{inst.appendToSystemClassLoaderSearch(new JarFile(jarfile));}
public final static void agentmain(String agentArgs, Instrumentation instrumentation) {
if (instrumentation == null){throw new NullPointerException("instrumentation");}
if (inst == null) {inst = instrumentation;}
}
private static Instrumentation inst;
private static boolean loadedViaPreMain = false;
}
I just try it out myself package these code as a package then start the application class with -javaagent:plugin......jar option then call this function.It doesn't change my classpath.I am probably missing some details here.
Hope you can make it work though.

i found this, and worked for me.
String pathSeparator = Syste .getProperty("path.separator");
String[] classPathEntries = System.getProperty("java.class.path") .split(pathSeparator);
from the web site https://blog.codefx.org/java/java-11-migration-guide/#Casting-To-URL-Class-Loader

Cant find bundle for base name

I am trying a simple example of i18n in java but i am getting Can't find bundle for base name Resources/MessageBundle, locale en_US
This is my code
import java.util.ResourceBundle;
public class Test {
/**
* #param args
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
ResourceBundle myResources =
ResourceBundle.getBundle("Resources/MessagesBundle");
for (String s : myResources.keySet())
{
System.out.println(s);
}
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
}
}
And this is my project structure http://oi62.tinypic.com/x5y4y8.jpg
Can anyone help me with this.I have added resource folder to java Build path

If you add the Resources directory to your build path, then this directory has to be considered as a root. Therefore, you'll find your bundle with :
ResourceBundle myResources =
ResourceBundle.getBundle("MessageBundle");
You have to know that ResourceBundle works with class loader, and the build path (or class path) sets the root of the class loader path.

You do not need the Resources/
ResourceBundle.getBundle("MessageBundle");
From javadoc :
baseName - the base name of the resource bundle, a fully qualified class name
As Resources seems to be in your class path, it should work.

Xtend how to get full path of current working directory

I have written a grammar that allows the user to input a relative path. (e.g. "../../temp/out/path"
May aim is to get the absolute path based on the input from the user, and the absolute path of the current working directory so that I can also check if the input path is valid or not.
Is there libraries or built in functions that I can use to get the absolute path?
Something similar to C's _getcwd() function.

Yes, Java has a File class. You can create one by calling this constructor which takes a String. Then you can call getAbsolutePath() on it. You can call it like this:
package com.sandbox;
import java.io.File;
public class Sandbox {
public static void main(String[] args) {
File file = new File("relative path");
String absolutePathString = file.getAbsolutePath();
}
}

This will print a complete absolute path from where your application has initialized.
public class JavaApplication1 {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Working Directory = " +System.getProperty("user.dir"));
}
}

How to set my ClassLoader as the JVM's ClassLoader for loading ALL classes (jar classes included)?

I am writing a game engine in which I need to analyze every single class that is mentioned in my program. As this is a game engine, it is to be attached to a client's project as a JAR file. From within that JAR file I need to be able to scan every class that is being used by the client.
So I thought that I should create a custom ClassLoader! By overriding ClassLoader I can take a look at every class that is being used as it is loaded.
I started playing around a bit with ClassLoaders. Here is what I did:
(I stole this classloader from JavaWorld just to play around with it)
public class SimpleClassLoader extends ClassLoader {
private HashMap<String, Class> classes = new HashMap<String, Class>();
public SimpleClassLoader() {
}
/**
* This sample function for reading class implementations reads
* them from the local file system
*/
private byte getClassImplFromDataBase(String className)[] {
System.out.println(" >>>>>> Fetching the implementation of "+className);
byte result[];
try {
FileInputStream fi = new FileInputStream("store\\"+className+".impl");
result = new byte[fi.available()];
fi.read(result);
return result;
} catch (Exception e) {
/*
* If we caught an exception, either the class wasnt found or it
* was unreadable by our process.
*/
return null;
}
}
/**
* This is a simple version for external clients since they
* will always want the class resolved before it is returned
* to them.
*/
public Class loadClass(String className) throws ClassNotFoundException {
return (loadClass(className, true));
}
/**
* This is the required version of loadClass which is called
* both from loadClass above and from the internal function
* FindClassFromClass.
*/
public synchronized Class loadClass(String className, boolean resolveIt)
throws ClassNotFoundException {
Class result;
byte classData[];
System.out.println(className);
System.out.println(" >>>>>> Load class : "+className);
/* Check our local cache of classes */
result = (Class)classes.get(className);
if (result != null) {
System.out.println(" >>>>>> returning cached result.");
return result;
}
/* Check with the primordial class loader */
try {
result = super.findSystemClass(className);
System.out.println(" >>>>>> returning system class (in CLASSPATH).");
return result;
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
System.out.println(" >>>>>> Not a system class.");
}
/* Try to load it from our repository */
classData = getClassImplFromDataBase(className);
if (classData == null) {
throw new ClassNotFoundException();
}
/* Define it (parse the class file) */
result = defineClass(classData, 0, classData.length);
if (result == null) {
throw new ClassFormatError();
}
if (resolveIt) {
resolveClass(result);
}
classes.put(className, result);
System.out.println(" >>>>>> Returning newly loaded class.");
return result;
}
}
Then I decided to test it:
public class Test
{
public static void main(String args[]) throws ClassNotFoundException
{
SimpleClassLoader s = new SimpleClassLoader();
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(s);
Foo myfoo = new Foo(); //local class
ArrayList myList = new ArrayList(); //class from JAR file
//both should have been loaded from my SimpleClassLoader
System.out.println(s + "\n\tshould be equal to\n" + myfoo.getClass().getClassLoader());
System.out.println("\tand also to: \n" + myList.getClass().getClassLoader());
/*
OUTPUT:
SimpleClassLoader#57fee6fc
should be equal to
sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader#51f12c4e
and also to:
null
***
bizarre results: why are ArrayList and Foo not being loaded by my classloader?
*/
}
}
Is creating a custom ClassLoader the correct approach to the problem described at the top?
Why is the system class loader being invoked? How do I force the JVM to use MY classloader, for ALL threads? (not just the first thread, I want every new thread created to automatically use my classloader)
It is my understanding that via the "delegation system", the parent ClassLoader gets the first try at loading the class; this may be the reason my ClassLoader isn't loading anything. If I am correct, how to I disable this feature? How do I get MY classloader to do the loading?

The instrumentation api would be a natural fit for what I think you're trying to do
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/lang/instrument/Instrumentation.html
It lets you intercept classes as they are loaded by the JVM - normally to modify them, but you are given the byte array to play with so I can see no reason why you couldn't perform any required analysis without actually modifying.
This would let you analyse classes before they are loaded. I'm not entirely clear on what it is you are trying to achieve, but if you can analyse the classes after they are loaded then you could simply open and parse the contents of all jars on the classpath.

How do I create a parent-last / child-first ClassLoader in Java, or How to override an old Xerces version that was already loaded in the parent CL?

I would like to create a parent-last / child-first class loader, e.g. a class loader that will look for classes in the child class loder first, and only then delegate to it's parent ClassLoader to search for classes.
Clarification:
I know now that to get complete ClassLoading seperation I need to use something like a URLClassLoader passing null as it's parent, thanks to this answer to my previous question
However the current question comes to help me resolve this issue:
My code + dependent jars are being loaded into an existing system, using a ClassLoader that sets that System's ClassLoader as it's parent (URLClassLoader)
That System uses some libraries of a version not compatible with the one I need (e.g. older version of Xerces, that doesn't allow me to run my code)
My code runs perfectly fine if runs stand alone, but it fails if runs from that ClassLoader
Howerver I do need access to many other classes within the parent ClassLoader
Therefore I want to allow me to Override, the parent classloader "jars" with my own: If a class I call is found in the child class loader (e.g. I provided a newer version of Xerces with my own jars, instead of the one users by the ClassLoader that loaded my code and jars.
Here is the System's code that loads my code + Jars (I can't change this one)
File addOnFolder = new File("/addOns");
URL url = addOnFolder.toURL();
URL[] urls = new URL[]{url};
ClassLoader parent = getClass().getClassLoader();
cl = URLClassLoader.newInstance(urls, parent);
Here is "my" code (taken fully from the Flying Sauser "Hello World" code demo):
package flyingsaucerpdf;
import java.io.*;
import com.lowagie.text.DocumentException;
import org.xhtmlrenderer.pdf.ITextRenderer;
public class FirstDoc {
public static void main(String[] args)
throws IOException, DocumentException {
String f = new File("sample.xhtml").getAbsolutePath();
System.out.println(f);
//if(true) return;
String inputFile = "sample.html";
String url = new File(inputFile).toURI().toURL().toString();
String outputFile = "firstdoc.pdf";
OutputStream os = new FileOutputStream(outputFile);
ITextRenderer renderer = new ITextRenderer();
renderer.setDocument(url);
renderer.layout();
renderer.createPDF(os);
os.close();
}
}
This works standalone (running main) but fails with this error when loaded through the parent CL:
org.w3c.dom.DOMException: NAMESPACE_ERR: An attempt is made to
create or change an object in a way
which is incorrect with regard to
namespaces.
probably because the parent system uses Xerces of an older version, and even though I provide the right Xerces jar in the /addOns folder, since it's classes were already loaded and used by the parent System, it doesn't allow my own code to use my own jar due to the direction of the delegation. I hope this makes my question clearer, and I'm sure it has been asked
before. (Perhaps I don't ask the right question)

Today is your lucky day, as I had to solve this exact problem. I warn you though, the innards of class loading are a scary place. Doing this makes me think that the designers of Java never imagined that you might want to have a parent-last classloader.
To use just supply a list of URLs containing classes or jars to be available in the child classloader.
/**
* A parent-last classloader that will try the child classloader first and then the parent.
* This takes a fair bit of doing because java really prefers parent-first.
*
* For those not familiar with class loading trickery, be wary
*/
private static class ParentLastURLClassLoader extends ClassLoader
{
private ChildURLClassLoader childClassLoader;
/**
* This class allows me to call findClass on a classloader
*/
private static class FindClassClassLoader extends ClassLoader
{
public FindClassClassLoader(ClassLoader parent)
{
super(parent);
}
#Override
public Class<?> findClass(String name) throws ClassNotFoundException
{
return super.findClass(name);
}
}
/**
* This class delegates (child then parent) for the findClass method for a URLClassLoader.
* We need this because findClass is protected in URLClassLoader
*/
private static class ChildURLClassLoader extends URLClassLoader
{
private FindClassClassLoader realParent;
public ChildURLClassLoader( URL[] urls, FindClassClassLoader realParent )
{
super(urls, null);
this.realParent = realParent;
}
#Override
public Class<?> findClass(String name) throws ClassNotFoundException
{
try
{
// first try to use the URLClassLoader findClass
return super.findClass(name);
}
catch( ClassNotFoundException e )
{
// if that fails, we ask our real parent classloader to load the class (we give up)
return realParent.loadClass(name);
}
}
}
public ParentLastURLClassLoader(List<URL> classpath)
{
super(Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader());
URL[] urls = classpath.toArray(new URL[classpath.size()]);
childClassLoader = new ChildURLClassLoader( urls, new FindClassClassLoader(this.getParent()) );
}
#Override
protected synchronized Class<?> loadClass(String name, boolean resolve) throws ClassNotFoundException
{
try
{
// first we try to find a class inside the child classloader
return childClassLoader.findClass(name);
}
catch( ClassNotFoundException e )
{
// didn't find it, try the parent
return super.loadClass(name, resolve);
}
}
}
EDIT: Sergio and ɹoƃı have pointed out that if you call .loadClass with the same classname, you will get a LinkageError. While this is true, the normal use-case for this classloader is to set it as the thread's classloader Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader() or via Class.forName(), and that works as-is.
However, if .loadClass() was needed directly, this code could be added in the ChildURLClassLoader findClass method at the top.
Class<?> loaded = super.findLoadedClass(name);
if( loaded != null )
return loaded;

The following code is what I use. It has the advantage over the other answer that it doesn't break the parent chain (you can follow getClassLoader().getParent()).
It also has an advantage over tomcat's WebappClassLoader by not reinventing the wheel and not depending on other objects. It re-uses code from URLClassLoader as much as possible.
(it doesn't yet honor the system class loader, but when I get that fixed I'll update the answer)
It honors the system class loader (for java.* classes, endorsed dir, etc.). It also works when security is turned on and the classloader doesn't have access to its parent (yes, this situation is weird, but possible).
public class ChildFirstURLClassLoader extends URLClassLoader {
private ClassLoader system;
public ChildFirstURLClassLoader(URL[] classpath, ClassLoader parent) {
super(classpath, parent);
system = getSystemClassLoader();
}
#Override
protected synchronized Class<?> loadClass(String name, boolean resolve)
throws ClassNotFoundException {
// First, check if the class has already been loaded
Class<?> c = findLoadedClass(name);
if (c == null) {
if (system != null) {
try {
// checking system: jvm classes, endorsed, cmd classpath, etc.
c = system.loadClass(name);
}
catch (ClassNotFoundException ignored) {
}
}
if (c == null) {
try {
// checking local
c = findClass(name);
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
// checking parent
// This call to loadClass may eventually call findClass again, in case the parent doesn't find anything.
c = super.loadClass(name, resolve);
}
}
}
if (resolve) {
resolveClass(c);
}
return c;
}
#Override
public URL getResource(String name) {
URL url = null;
if (system != null) {
url = system.getResource(name);
}
if (url == null) {
url = findResource(name);
if (url == null) {
// This call to getResource may eventually call findResource again, in case the parent doesn't find anything.
url = super.getResource(name);
}
}
return url;
}
#Override
public Enumeration<URL> getResources(String name) throws IOException {
/**
* Similar to super, but local resources are enumerated before parent resources
*/
Enumeration<URL> systemUrls = null;
if (system != null) {
systemUrls = system.getResources(name);
}
Enumeration<URL> localUrls = findResources(name);
Enumeration<URL> parentUrls = null;
if (getParent() != null) {
parentUrls = getParent().getResources(name);
}
final List<URL> urls = new ArrayList<URL>();
if (systemUrls != null) {
while(systemUrls.hasMoreElements()) {
urls.add(systemUrls.nextElement());
}
}
if (localUrls != null) {
while (localUrls.hasMoreElements()) {
urls.add(localUrls.nextElement());
}
}
if (parentUrls != null) {
while (parentUrls.hasMoreElements()) {
urls.add(parentUrls.nextElement());
}
}
return new Enumeration<URL>() {
Iterator<URL> iter = urls.iterator();
public boolean hasMoreElements() {
return iter.hasNext();
}
public URL nextElement() {
return iter.next();
}
};
}
#Override
public InputStream getResourceAsStream(String name) {
URL url = getResource(name);
try {
return url != null ? url.openStream() : null;
} catch (IOException e) {
}
return null;
}
}

By reading the source code of either Jetty or Tomcat, both of which provide parent-last class loaders to implement webapp semantics.
https://github.com/apache/tomcat/blob/7.0.93/java/org/apache/catalina/loader/WebappClassLoaderBase.java
Which is to say, by overriding the findClass method in your ClassLoader class. But why reinvent the wheel when you can steal it?
Reading your various updates, I see that you ran into some classic problems with the XML SPI system.
The general problem is this: if you create a completely isolated class loader, then it's hard to use the objects it returns. If you allow sharing, you can have problems when the parent contains the wrong versions of things.
It is to deal with all this lunacy that OSGi was invented, but that's a big pill to swallow.
Even in webapps, the class loaders exempt some packages from the 'local-first' processing on the assumption that the container and the webapp have to agree on the API between them.

(see at the bottom for an update on a solution I found)
It seems that AntClassLoader has a support for parent first/last, (didn't test it yet)
http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/ant/core/trunk/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/AntClassLoader.java
Here is a snippet
/**
* Creates a classloader for the given project using the classpath given.
*
* #param parent The parent classloader to which unsatisfied loading
* attempts are delegated. May be <code>null</code>,
* in which case the classloader which loaded this
* class is used as the parent.
* #param project The project to which this classloader is to belong.
* Must not be <code>null</code>.
* #param classpath the classpath to use to load the classes.
* May be <code>null</code>, in which case no path
* elements are set up to start with.
* #param parentFirst If <code>true</code>, indicates that the parent
* classloader should be consulted before trying to
* load the a class through this loader.
*/
public AntClassLoader(
ClassLoader parent, Project project, Path classpath, boolean parentFirst) {
this(project, classpath);
if (parent != null) {
setParent(parent);
}
setParentFirst(parentFirst);
addJavaLibraries();
}
Update:
Found this as well, when as a last resort I started guessing class names in google (this is what ChildFirstURLClassLoader produced) - but it seems to be incorrect
Update 2:
The 1st Option (AntClassLoader) is very coupled to Ant (requires a Project context and not easy to pass a URL[] to it
The 2nd Option (from an OSGI project in google code) wasn't quite what I needed as it searched parent classloader before the system classloader (Ant class loader does it correctly by the way). The problem as I see it, think that your parent classloader includes a jar (that it shouldn't have) of a functionality that wasn't on JDK 1.4 but was added in 1.5, this has no harm as the parent last class loader (regular delegation model, e.g. URLClassLoader) will always load first the JDK's classes, but here the child first naive implementation seems to unveil the old, redundant jar in the parent class loader, shadowing the JDK / JRE own implementation.
I have yet to find a certified, fully tested, mature Parent Last / Child First correct implementation that is not coupled to a specific solution (Ant, Catalina/Tomcat)
Update 3 - I found it!
I WAS looking in the wrong place,
All I did was add META-INF/services/javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory and restored the JDK's com.sun.org.apache.xalan.internal.xsltc.trax.TransformerFactoryImpl instead of the old Xalan's org.apache.xalan.processor.TransformerFactoryImpl
The only reason I don't "accept my own answer" yet, is that I don't know if the META-INF/services approach has the same classloader delegation as regular classes (e.g. is it parent-first / child-last or parent-last / child-first?)

URLClassLoader had this constructor public URLClassLoader(URL[], ClassLoader) that allows you to override the parent classloader of an URLClassLoader. You can just load your classloader through an URLClassLoader with an overridden parent classloader.

You can override findClass() and loadClass() to implement a child first class loader:
/**
* Always throws {#link ClassNotFoundException}. Is called if parent class loader
* did not find class.
*/
#Override
protected final Class findClass(String name)
throws ClassNotFoundException
{
throw new ClassNotFoundException();
}
#Override
protected Class loadClass(String name, boolean resolve)
throws ClassNotFoundException
{
synchronized (getClassLoadingLock(name)){
/*
* Check if we have already loaded this class.
*/
Class c = findLoadedClass(name);
if (c == null){
try {
/*
* We haven't previously loaded this class, try load it now
* from SUPER.findClass()
*/
c = super.findClass(name);
}catch (ClassNotFoundException ignore){
/*
* Child did not find class, try parent.
*/
return super.loadClass(name, resolve);
}
}
if (resolve){
resolveClass(c);
}
return c;
}
}