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+<chapter id="ltw" xreflabel="Load-Time Weaving">
+ <title>Load-Time Weaving</title>
+
+ <sect1 id="ltw-introduction">
+ <title>Introduction</title>
+
+ <para> The AspectJ 5 weaver takes class files as input and produces class files as output.
+ The weaving process itself can take place at one of three different times: compile-time,
+ post-compile time, and load-time. The class files produced by the weaving process (and
+ hence the run-time behaviour of an application) are the same regardless of the approach
+ chosen. </para>
+
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem> <para>Compile-time weaving is the simplest approach. When you have the source code
+ for an application, ajc will compile from source and produce woven class files as
+ output. The invocation of the weaver is integral to the ajc compilation process. The
+ aspects themselves may be in source or binary form. </para></listitem>
+ <listitem> <para>Post-compile weaving (also sometimes called binary weaving) is used to weave
+ existing class files and JAR files. As with compile-time weaving,
+ the aspects used for weaving may be in source or binary form. </para></listitem>
+ <listitem> <para>Load-time weaving (LTW) is simply binary weaving defered until the point that
+ a class loader loads a class file and defines the class to the JVM. To support this,
+ one or more "weaving class loaders", either provided explicitly by the run-time
+ environment or enabled through a "weaving agent" are required. </para></listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+
+ <para> You may also hear the term "run-time weaving". We define this as the weaving of
+ classes that have already been defined to the JVM (without reloading those
+ classes). AspectJ 5 does not provide explicit support for run-time weaving although
+ simple coding patterns can support dynamically enabling and disabling advice in aspects. </para>
+
+ <sect2 id="weaving-class-files-more-than-once" xreflabel="weaving-class-files-more-than-once">
+ <title>Weaving class files more than once</title>
+
+ <para> By default a class file that has been woven by the AspectJ compiler cannot
+ subsequently be rewoven (passed as input to the weaver). If you are developing
+ AspectJ applications that are to be used in a load-time weaving environment, you
+ need to specify the <literal>-Xreweavable</literal> compiler option when building
+ them. This causes AspectJ to save additional state in the class files that is used
+ to support subsequent reweaving. </para>
+ <para><!-- FIXME AV -->As per AspectJ 1.5.0 M3 aspects (code style or annotation style) are
+ reweavable by default, and weaved classes may be as well in 1.5.0 final.</para>
+ </sect2>
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="ltw-rules">
+ <title>Load-time Weaving Requirements</title>
+
+ <para> All load-time weaving is done in the context of a class loader, and hence the set of
+ aspects used for weaving and the types that can be woven are affected by the class
+ loader delegation model. This ensures that LTW complies with the Java 2 security model.
+ The following rules govern the interaction of load-time weaving with class loading: </para>
+
+ <orderedlist>
+ <listitem> <para>All aspects to be used for weaving must be defined to the weaver before any
+ types to be woven are loaded.</para></listitem>
+ <listitem> <para>All abstract and concrete aspects visible to the weaver
+ are available for extending (abstract aspects) and using for weaving.
+ A visible aspect is one defined by the
+ weaving class loader or one of its parent class loaders.</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>A class loader may only weave classes that it defines. It may not weave
+ classes loaded by a delegate or parent class loader.</para></listitem>
+ </orderedlist>
+
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="ltw-configuration">
+ <title>Configuration</title>
+ <para>AspectJ 5 supports a number of mechanisms designed to make load-time weaving as
+ easy to use as possibe. The load-time weaving mechanism is chosen through JVM startup options.
+ Configuration files determine the set of aspects to be used for weaving and which
+ types will be woven. Additional diagnostic options allow the user to debug the configuration and
+ weaving process. </para>
+
+ <sect2 id="enabling-load-time-weaving" xreflabel="enabling-load-time-weaving">
+ <title>Enabling Load-time Weaving</title>
+ <para> AspectJ 5 supports several different ways of enabling load-time weaving for
+ an application: agents, a command-line launch script, and a set of interfaces for
+ integration of AspectJ load-time weaving in custom environments. </para>
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Agents</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>AspectJ 5 ships with a number of load-time weaving agents that
+ enable load-time weaving. These agents and their configuration
+ are execution environment dependent. Configuration for the supported environments is discussed
+ later in this chapter.</para>
+ <para>
+ Using Java 5 JVMTI you can specify the <literal>-javaagent:pathto/aspectjweaver.jar</literal> option
+ to the JVM.</para><para>
+ Using BEA JRockit and Java 1.3/1.4, the very same behavior can be obtained using BEA JRockit JMAPI features with
+ the <literal>-Xmanagement:class=org.aspectj.weaver.loadtime.JRockitAgent</literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <!-- FIXME: must be made consistent (aop.xml , CL hierarchy etc) -->
+<!-- <varlistentry>-->
+<!-- <term>Command line</term>-->
+<!-- <listitem>-->
+<!-- <para> AspectJ includes a script "aj" that allows programs executed at-->
+<!-- the command line to take advantage of load-time weaving. -->
+<!-- The script is customized when AspectJ is installed depending on the chosen -->
+<!-- JDK. For example, for JDK 1.4 the script uses the-->
+<!-- <literal>-Djava.system.class.loader</literal> system property to replace-->
+<!-- the system class loader with a weaving class loader allowing classes -->
+<!-- loaded from the CLASSPATH to be woven. -->
+<!-- For JDK 1.5 the JVMTI weaving agent is used allowing classes loaded by all-->
+<!-- class loaders to be woven. Versions of the JDK prior to 1.3 are not-->
+<!-- supported by the "aj" mechanism. </para>-->
+<!-- </listitem>-->
+<!-- </varlistentry>-->
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Custom Integration</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para> A public interface is provided to allow a user written class loader
+ to instantiate a weaver and weave classes after loading and before
+ defining them in the JVM. This enables load-time weaving to be supported in
+ environments where no weaving agent is available. It also allows the
+ user to explicity restrict by class loader which classes can be woven.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2 id="configuring-load-time-weaving-with-aopxml-files" xreflabel="configuring-load-time-weaving-with-aopxml-files">
+ <title>Configuring Load-time Weaving with aop.xml files</title>
+
+ <para>The weaver is configured using one or more <literal>META-INF/aop.xml</literal>
+ files located on the class loader search path. Each file may define a list of
+ concrete aspects to be used for weaving, type patterns describing which types
+ should woven, and a set of options to be passed to the weaver. In addition AspectJ 5
+ supports the definition of concrete aspects in XML. Aspects defined in this way
+ must extend an abstract aspect visible to the weaver. The abstract aspect
+ may define abstract pointcuts (but not abstract
+ methods). The following example shows a simple aop.xml file: </para>
+ <programlisting><![CDATA[
+ <aspectj>
+
+ <aspects>
+ <!-- declare two existing aspects to the weaver -->
+ <aspect name="com.MyAspect"/>
+ <aspect name="com.MyAspect.Inner"/>
+
+ <!-- define a concrete aspect inline -->
+ <concrete-aspect name="com.xyz.tracing.MyTracing" extends="tracing.AbstractTracing">
+ <pointcut name="tracingScope" expression="within(org.maw.*)"/>
+ </concrete-aspect>
+
+ <!-- Of the set of aspects known to the weaver, use aspects matching
+ the type pattern "com..*" for weaving. -->
+ <include within="com..*"/>
+
+ <!-- Do not use any aspects with the @CoolAspect annotation for weaving -->
+ <exclude within="@CoolAspect *"/>
+
+ </aspects>
+
+ <weaver options="-verbose -XlazyTjp">
+ <!-- Weave types that are within the javax.* or org.aspectj.*
+ packages. Also weave all types in the foo package that do
+ not have the @NoWeave annotation. -->
+ <include within="javax.*"/>
+ <include within="org.aspectj.*"/>
+ <include within="(!@NoWeave foo.*) AND foo.*"/>
+ <dump within="somepack.*"/><!-- will dump weaved classes to the "./_ajdump" folder on disk (for diagnostic purpose) -->
+ </weaver>
+
+ </aspectj>
+
+ ]]></programlisting>
+
+ <para>
+ An aop.xml file contains two key sections: "aspects" defines one
+ or more aspects to the weaver and controls which aspects are to be
+ used in the weaving process; "weaver" defines weaver options and which
+ types should be woven.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The simplest way to define an aspect to the weaver is to
+ specify the fully-qualified name of the aspect type in an aspect element.
+ You can also
+ declare (and define to the weaver) aspects inline in the aop.xml file.
+ This is done using the "concrete-aspect" element. A concrete-aspect
+ declaration must provide a pointcut definition for every abstract
+ pointcut in the abstract aspect it extends. This mechanism is a
+ useful way of externalizing configuration for infrastructure and
+ auxiliary aspects where the pointcut definitions themselves can be
+ considered part of the configuration of the service.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ <emphasis>
+ Note: concrete-aspect is not available in AspectJ 1.5 M3.
+ </emphasis>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The aspects element may optionally contain one or more include and
+ exclude elements (by default, all defined aspects are used for weaving).
+ Specifying include or exclude elements restricts the set of defined
+ aspects to be used for weaving to those that are matched by an include
+ pattern, but not by an exclude pattern. The 'within' attribute accepts
+ a type pattern of the same form as a within pcd, except that &amp;&amp;
+ and || are replaced by 'AND' and 'OR'.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The weaver element is used to pass options to the weaver and to specify
+ the set of types that should be woven. If no include elements are specified
+ then all types seen by the weaver will be woven.
+ </para>
+
+
+ <para> When several configuration files are visible from a given weaving class loader
+ their contents are conceptually merged (this applies to both aop.xml files
+ and to aop.properties files as described in the next section).
+ The files are merged in the order they are
+ found on the search path (regular <literal>getResourceAsStream</literal> lookup)
+ according to the following rules: </para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <!-- FIXME AV - looks like we can refine conf in a child CL - not good -->
+ <listitem> <para>The set of available aspects is the set of all
+ declared and defined aspects (<literal>aspect</literal> and
+ <literal>concrete-aspect</literal> elements of the <literal>aspects</literal>
+ section).</para></listitem>
+ <listitem> <para>The set of aspects used for weaving is the subset of the available
+ aspects that are matched by at least one include statement and are not matched
+ by any exclude statements. If there are no include statements then all non-excluded
+ aspects are included.</para></listitem>
+ <listitem> <para> The set of types to be woven are those types matched by at
+ least one weaver <literal>include</literal> element and not matched by any
+ weaver <literal>exclude</literal> element. If there are no weaver include
+ statements then all non-excluded types are included.</para></listitem>
+ <listitem> <para> The weaver options are derived by taking the union of the
+ options specified in each of the weaver options attribute specifications. Where an
+ option takes a value e.g. <literal>-warn:none</literal> the most recently defined value
+ will be used.</para></listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+
+ <para>It is not an error for the same aspect to be defined to the weaver in
+ more than one visible <literal>META-INF/aop.xml</literal> file.
+ However, if a declarative concrete aspect
+ is declared in more than aop.xml file then an error will be issued.
+ A concrete aspect
+ defined in this way will be used to weave types loaded by the
+ class loader that loaded the aop.xml file in which it was defined.
+ </para>
+
+ <para> A <literal>META-INF/aop.xml</literal> file will automatically be generated when
+ using the <literal>-outjar</literal> option of the AspectJ compiler.
+ It will simply contain a (possibly empty) set of aspect elements, one for
+ each concrete aspect included in the JAR. </para>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <!-- TODO someone implement that -->
+ <!--
+ <sect2 id="configuring-load-time-weaving-with-properties-files" xreflabel="configuring-load-time-weaving-with-properties-files">
+ <title>Configuring Load-time Weaving with Properties Files</title>
+ <para> For memory constrained environments or those without support for XML a simple
+ Java Properties file can be used to configure LTW. Just like XML files,
+ <literal>META-INF/aop.properties</literal> files are loaded from the class loader
+ search path. Everything that can be configured through XML can be configured using a
+ Properties file, with the exception of declarative concrete aspects. For example: </para>
+ <programlisting><![CDATA[
+ aspects.names=com.MyAspect,com.MyAspect.Inner
+ aspects.include=com..*
+ aspects.exclude=@CoolAspect
+
+ weaver.options=-verbose -XlazyTjp
+ weaver.include=javax.* OR org.aspectj.*
+ ]]></programlisting>
+ </sect2>
+ -->
+
+ <sect2 id="weaver-options" xreflabel="weaver-options">
+ <title>Weaver Options</title>
+ <para> The table below lists the AspectJ options supported by LTW. All other options
+ will be ignored and a warning issued. </para>
+ <informaltable>
+ <tgroup cols="2">
+ <thead>
+ <row>
+ <entry>Option</entry>
+ <entry>Purpose</entry>
+ </row>
+ </thead>
+ <tbody>
+ <row>
+ <entry>
+ <literal>-verbose</literal>
+ </entry>
+ <entry>Issue informational messages about the weaving process. If ever you need to have information
+ when the load time weaving engine is bootstrapped (hence its logger as per <literal>-XmessageHandlerClass:...</literal> not ready yet),
+ you can use the option <literal>-Daj.weaving.verbose=true</literal> on the JVM startup command line. Messages will then be printed
+ on stderr as long as the message handler class is not ready.
+ </entry>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <entry>
+ <literal>-1.5</literal>
+ </entry>
+ <entry>Run the weaver in 1.5 mode (supports autoboxing in
+ join point matching)</entry>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <entry>
+ <literal>-XlazyTjp</literal>
+ </entry>
+ <entry>Performance optimization for aspects making use
+ of thisJoinPoint (non-static parts)</entry>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <entry>
+ <literal>-Xlintfile:pathToAResource</literal>
+ </entry>
+ <entry>Configure lint messages as specified in the given resource (visible from this aop.xml file' classloader)</entry>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <entry>
+ <literal>-Xlint:default, -Xlint:ignore, ...</literal>
+ </entry>
+ <entry>Configure lint messages, refer to documentation for meaningfull values</entry>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <entry>
+ <literal>-nowarn, -warn:none</literal>
+ </entry>
+ <entry>Suppress warning messages</entry>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <entry>
+ <literal>-proceedOnError</literal>
+ </entry>
+ <entry>Continue weaving even if errors occur (for example,
+ "... already woven" errors)</entry>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <entry>
+ <literal>-Xreweavable</literal>
+ </entry>
+ <entry>Produce class files that can subsequently be rewoven</entry>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <entry>
+ <literal>-XnoInline</literal>
+ </entry>
+ <entry>Don't inline around advice.</entry>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <entry>
+ <literal>-showWeaveInfo</literal>
+ </entry>
+ <entry>Issue informational messages whenever the weaver touches a class file</entry>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <entry>
+ <literal>-XmessageHandlerClass:...</literal>
+ </entry>
+ <entry>Provide alternative output destination to stdout/stderr for all weaver messages.
+ The given value must be the full qualified class name of a class that implements
+ <literal>org.aspectj.bridge.IMessageHandler</literal>
+ and that is visible from where the <literal>aop.xml</literal> is packed.
+ If more than one such options are used,
+ the first occurence only is taken into account.
+ You must also be very cautious about using a custom handler since it is likely that it will be invoked
+ (as well as all its third parties) while the weaving is done, which means that f.e. it cannot be weaved
+ by the aspects that are configured within the same deployment unit.
+ </entry>
+ </row>
+ </tbody>
+ </tgroup>
+ </informaltable>
+ </sect2>
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="ltw-specialcases">
+ <title>Special cases</title>
+ <para>
+ Those classes are not exposed to the LTW infrastructure, no matter
+ the configuration of the <literal>aop.xml</literal> file(s):
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem> <para>All <literal>org.aspectj.*</literal> classes (and subpackages) - as those are needed by the infrastructure itself</para></listitem>
+ <listitem> <para>All <literal>java.*</literal> and <literal>javax.*</literal> classes (and subpackages)</para></listitem>
+ <listitem> <para>All <literal>sun.reflect.*</literal> classes - as those are JDK specific classes used when reflective calls occurs</para></listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Despite these restrictions, it is perfectly possible to match call join points for calls to these types providing the calling
+ class is exposed to the weaver. Subtypes of these excluded types that are exposed to the weaver may of course be woven.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Note that dynamic proxy representations are exposed to the LTW infrastructure and are not considered
+ a special case.
+ </para>
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="ltw-packaging">
+ <title>Runtime Requirements for Load-time Weaving</title>
+ <para> To use LTW the <literal>aspectjweaver.jar</literal> library must be added to the
+ classpath. This contains the AspectJ 5 runtime, weaver, weaving class loader and
+ weaving agents. It also contains the DTD for parsing XML weaving configuration files. </para>
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="ltw-agents">
+ <title>Supported Agents</title>
+ <sect2 id="jvmti" xreflabel="jvmti">
+ <title>JVMTI</title>
+ <para> When using Java 5 the JVMTI agent can be used by starting the JVM with the
+ following option (adapt according to the path to aspectjweaver.jar): </para>
+ <programlisting><![CDATA[
+ -javaagent:pathto/aspectjweaver.jar
+ ]]></programlisting>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2 id="jrockit" xreflabel="jrockit">
+ <title>JRockit with Java 1.3/1.4 (use JVMTI on Java 5)</title>
+ <para> The JRockit agent is configured with the following JVM option: </para>
+ <programlisting><![CDATA[
+ -Xmanagement:class=org.aspectj.weaver.loadtime.JRockitAgent
+ ]]></programlisting>
+ </sect2>
+ </sect1>
+</chapter>
+