Re: GNU/Linux Java Policy and Packaging

[Mark Wielaard <mark@klomp.org>]

On Sun, 2007-06-17 at 01:01 +0100, Paul Cager wrote:
> *  How do you detect when a new version breaks the ABI? It seems quite
> complicated. Do you use a tool to compare the classes / method
> signatures, etc, or do you only bump the slot number if an application
> fails?

There is Japitools http://sab39.netreach.com/japi/ which you would hope
a library writer runs before releasing a new version. It gives a nice
overview of public visible changes between 2 versions of a java library.

Note that it only checks for binary compatibility, not source
compatibility though.

I don't know of any tools designed for source compatibility.

Cheers,

Mark