[kaffe] loadClass() vs. loadClass()

[Helmer Krämer]

On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 17:20:05 +0200
Mark Wielaard <mark at klomp.org> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> On Fri, 2003-09-19 at 16:23, Helmer Krämer wrote:
> > Whenever kaffe has to load some class
> > using a user defined loader, it invokes the two parameter
> > form of loadClass.
> > [...]
> > The simple and quick fix would be to modify kaffe so
> > it calls the loadClass(String) method of a user defined
> > class loader instead of the loadClass(String, boolean)
> > one. In theory, this should not break existing code since
> > loadClass(String) simply calls the other method. I don't
> > know whether this is the right way to fix this, though.
> 
> I think this is the correct fix. See:
> http://java.sun.com/docs/books/vmspec/2nd-edition/html/ConstantPool.doc.html#79448
> 
>         1 Since JDK release 1.1 the Java virtual machine invokes the
>         loadClass method of a class loader in order to cause it to load
>         a class or interface. The argument to loadClass is the name of
>         the class or interface to be loaded. There is also a
>         two-argument version of the loadClass method. The second
>         argument is a boolean that indicates whether the class or
>         interface is to be linked or not. Only the two-argument version
>         was supplied in JDK release 1.0.2, and the Java virtual machine
>         relied on it to link the loaded class or interface. From JDK
>         release 1.1 onward, the Java virtual machine links the class or
>         interface directly, without relying on the class loader.
> 
> You should also call the one argument ClassLoader.loadClass(String)
> method for Class.forName(), but I cannot quickly find where in the spec
> this is defined.

Could this probably help with the problem about loading
classes during verification, too? One of the problems
was that we thought we couldn't predict the state of a
class that's returned by a user class loader, but this
paragraph seems to define this, doesn't it ?

Regards,
Helmer