Release 1.5.0 of the Checker Framework and Type Annotations compiler

[Jonathan Burke]

We have released a new version of the Type Annotations (JSR 308) compiler,

the Checker Framework, and the Eclipse plugin for the Checker Framework.

 * The Type Annotations compiler supports the type annotation syntax that is

   planned for a future version of the Java language.

 * The Checker Framework lets you create and/or run pluggable type-checkers,

   in order to detect and prevent bugs in your code.  

 * The Eclipse plugin makes it more convenient to run the Checker Framework.

You can find documentation and download links for these projects at:

http://types.cs.washington.edu/jsr308/

Notable changes include:

Changes for the Checker Framework

User-visible framework improvements:

  To invoke the Checker Framework, call the main method of class

    CheckerMain, which is a drop-in replacement for javac.  This replaces

    all previous techniques for invoking the Checker Framework.  Users

    should no longer provide any Checker Framework jars on the classpath or

    bootclasspath.  jsr308-all.jar has been removed.

  The Checker Framework now works with both JDK 6 and JDK 7, without need

    for user customization.  The Checker Framework determines the

    appropriate annotated JDK to use.

  All jar files now reside in checker-framework/checkers/binary/.

Maven plugin:

  Individual pom files (and artifacts in the Maven repository) for all

    Checker Framework jar files.

  Avoid too-long command lines on Windows.

  See the Maven section of the manual for more details.

Eclipse plugin:

  Avoid too-long command lines on Windows.

  Other bug fixes and interface improvements.

Other framework improvements:

  New -Adetailedmsgtext command-line option, intended for use by IDE plugins.

Changes for the Type Annotations Compiler

Modified build.xml to work with new Checker Framework binary layout

Minor documentation improvements

No significant code changes