/*
 * @(#)RetentionPolicy.java	1.4 04/02/03
 *
 * Copyright 2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
 * SUN PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms.
 */

package java.lang.annotation;

/**
 * Annotation retention policy.  The constants of this enumerated type
 * describe the various policies for retaining annotations.  They are used
 * in conjunction with the {@link Retention} meta-annotation type to specify
 * how long annotations are to be retained.
 *
 * @author  Joshua Bloch
 * @since 1.5
 */
public enum RetentionPolicy {
    /**
     * Annotations are to be discarded by the compiler.
     */
    SOURCE,

    /**
     * Annotations are to be recorded in the class file by the compiler
     * but need not be retained by the VM at run time.  This is the default
     * behavior.
     */
    CLASS,

    /**
     * Annotations are to be recorded in the class file by the compiler and
     * retained by the VM at run time, so they may be read reflectively.
     *
     * @see java.lang.reflect.AnnotatedElement
     */
    RUNTIME
}