Cloneable.java

/*
 * Copyright (c) 1995, 2004, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
 *
 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this
 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
 * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
 *
 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
 * accompanied this code).
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
 *
 * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
 * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
 * questions.
 */

package java.lang;

/**
 * A class implements the <code>Cloneable</code> interface to
 * indicate to the {@link java.lang.Object#clone()} method that it
 * is legal for that method to make a
 * field-for-field copy of instances of that class.
 * <p>
 * Invoking Object's clone method on an instance that does not implement the
 * <code>Cloneable</code> interface results in the exception
 * <code>CloneNotSupportedException</code> being thrown.
 * <p>
 * By convention, classes that implement this interface should override
 * <tt>Object.clone</tt> (which is protected) with a public method.
 * See {@link java.lang.Object#clone()} for details on overriding this
 * method.
 * <p>
 * Note that this interface does <i>not</i> contain the <tt>clone</tt> method.
 * Therefore, it is not possible to clone an object merely by virtue of the
 * fact that it implements this interface.  Even if the clone method is invoked
 * reflectively, there is no guarantee that it will succeed.
 *
 * @author  unascribed
 * @see     java.lang.CloneNotSupportedException
 * @see     java.lang.Object#clone()
 * @since   JDK1.0
 */
public interface Cloneable {
}