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     */
018    package org.apache.hadoop.classification;
019    
020    import 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
028    public 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    }