001/*
002 * Copyright (C) 2010 The Guava Authors
003 *
004 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except
005 * in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
006 *
007 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
008 *
009 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License
010 * is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express
011 * or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under
012 * the License.
013 */
014
015package com.google.common.annotations;
016
017import java.lang.annotation.Documented;
018import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
019import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
020import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
021import java.lang.annotation.Target;
022
023/**
024 * Signifies that a public API (public class, method or field) is subject to incompatible changes,
025 * or even removal, in a future release. An API bearing this annotation is exempt from any
026 * compatibility guarantees made by its containing library. Note that the presence of this
027 * annotation implies nothing about the quality or performance of the API in question, only the fact
028 * that it is not "API-frozen."
029 *
030 * <p>It is generally safe for <i>applications</i> to depend on beta APIs, at the cost of some extra
031 * work during upgrades. However it is generally inadvisable for <i>libraries</i> (which get
032 * included on users' CLASSPATHs, outside the library developers' control) to do so.
033 *
034 * @author Kevin Bourrillion
035 */
036@Retention(RetentionPolicy.CLASS)
037@Target({
038  ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE,
039  ElementType.CONSTRUCTOR,
040  ElementType.FIELD,
041  ElementType.METHOD,
042  ElementType.TYPE
043})
044@Documented
045@GwtCompatible
046public @interface Beta {}