gcc/libjava/java/lang/Cloneable.java

/* Cloneable.java -- Interface for marking objects cloneable by Object.clone()
   Copyright (C) 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

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exception statement from your version. */


package java.lang;

/**
 * This interface should be implemented by classes wishing to
 * support of override <code>Object.clone()</code>.  The default
 * behaviour of <code>clone()</code> performs a shallow copy, but
 * subclasses often change this to perform a deep copy.  Therefore,
 * it is a good idea to document how deep your clone will go.
 * If <code>clone()</code> is called on an object which does not
 * implement this interface, a <code>CloneNotSupportedException</code>
 * will be thrown.
 *
 * <p>This interface is simply a tagging interface; it carries no
 * requirements on methods to implement.  However, it is typical for
 * a Cloneable class to implement at least <code>equals</code>,
 * <code>hashCode</code>, and <code>clone</code>, sometimes
 * increasing the accessibility of clone to be public. The typical
 * implementation of <code>clone</code> invokes <code>super.clone()</code>
 * rather than a constructor, but this is not a requirement.
 *
 * <p>If an object that implement Cloneable should not be cloned,
 * simply override the <code>clone</code> method to throw a
 * <code>CloneNotSupportedException</code>.
 *
 * <p>All array types implement Cloneable, and have a public
 * <code>clone</code> method that will never fail with a
 * <code>CloneNotSupportedException</code>.
 *
 * @author Paul Fisher
 * @author Eric Blake <ebb9@email.byu.edu>
 * @author Warren Levy <warrenl@cygnus.com>
 * @see Object#clone()
 * @see CloneNotSupportedException
 * @since 1.0
 * @status updated to 1.4
 */
public interface Cloneable
{
  // Tagging interface only.
}