1 /* 2 * Copyright (c) 2003, 2020, Oracle and/or its affiliates. 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. Oracle designates this 8 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided 9 * by Oracle 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 Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA 22 * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any 23 * questions. 24 */ 25 26 package java.lang.annotation; 27 28 /** 29 * If the annotation {@code @Documented} is present on the declaration 30 * of an annotation interface <i>A</i>, then any {@code @A} annotation on 31 * an element is considered part of the element's public contract. 32 * 33 * In more detail, when an annotation interface <i>A</i> is annotated with 34 * {@code Documented}, the presence and value of <i>A</i> annotations 35 * are a part of the public contract of the elements <i>A</i> 36 * annotates. 37 * 38 * Conversely, if an annotation interface <i>B</i> is <em>not</em> 39 * annotated with {@code Documented}, the presence and value of 40 * <i>B</i> annotations are <em>not</em> part of the public contract 41 * of the elements <i>B</i> annotates. 42 * 43 * Concretely, if an annotation interface is annotated with {@code Documented}, 44 * by default a tool like javadoc will display annotations of that interface 45 * in its output while annotations of annotation interfaces without 46 * {@code Documented} will not be displayed. 47 * 48 * @author Joshua Bloch 49 * @since 1.5 50 */ 51 @Documented 52 @Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME) 53 @Target(ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE) 54 public @interface Documented { 55 } 56