001/*
002 * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
003 * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
004 * distributed with this work for additional information
005 * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
006 * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
007 * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
008 * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
009 *
010 *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
011 *
012 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
013 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
014 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
015 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
016 * limitations under the License.
017 */
018package org.apache.hadoop.classification;
019
020import java.lang.annotation.Documented;
021
022/**
023 * Annotation to inform users of how much to rely on a particular package,
024 * class or method not changing over time.
025 */
026@InterfaceAudience.Public
027@InterfaceStability.Evolving
028public class InterfaceStability {
029  /**
030   * Can evolve while retaining compatibility for minor release boundaries.; 
031   * can break compatibility only at major release (ie. at m.0).
032   */
033  @Documented
034  public @interface Stable {};
035  
036  /**
037   * Evolving, but can break compatibility at minor release (i.e. m.x)
038   */
039  @Documented
040  public @interface Evolving {};
041  
042  /**
043   * No guarantee is provided as to reliability or stability across any
044   * level of release granularity.
045   */
046  @Documented
047  public @interface Unstable {};
048}