/*

 * Copyright (c) 2003, 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.annotation;

/**

 * Indicates that an annotation type is automatically inherited.  If

 * an Inherited meta-annotation is present on an annotation type

 * declaration, and the user queries the annotation type on a class

 * declaration, and the class declaration has no annotation for this type,

 * then the class's superclass will automatically be queried for the

 * annotation type.  This process will be repeated until an annotation for this

 * type is found, or the top of the class hierarchy (Object)

 * is reached.  If no superclass has an annotation for this type, then

 * the query will indicate that the class in question has no such annotation.

 *

 * <p>Note that this meta-annotation type has no effect if the annotated

 * type is used to annotate anything other than a class.  Note also

 * that this meta-annotation only causes annotations to be inherited

 * from superclasses; annotations on implemented interfaces have no

 * effect.

 *

 * @author  Joshua Bloch

 * @since 1.5

 */

@Documented

@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)

@Target(ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE)

public @interface Inherited {

}