gnodet-bot commented on PR #1123: URL: https://github.com/apache/maven-compiler-plugin/pull/1123#issuecomment-5799704915
I looked into the actual 4.x behavior in `IncrementalBuild.java` and `AbstractCompilerMojo.java` to address @desruisseaux's concern. **Short answer: the PR's claim is correct, and the documentation is accurate for `master` (4.x) too.** Here's what 4.x actually does: - **`SOURCES` aspect** (the default): recompiles only the *modified source files* — not all files, unless a file was added or deleted. This is an improvement in reliability over 3.x (the path comparison bug was fixed), but it is still **source-level change detection**, not dependency tracking. - **`MODULES` aspect**: delegates to `javac --module`, which compiles files newer than their `.class` output — again, no dependency graph. - The existing Javadoc on `master` already acknowledges this at line 640: *"In all cases, the current compiler-plugin does not detect structural changes other than file addition or removal. For example, the plugin does not detect whether a method has been removed in a class."* So the 4.x plugin **improved the reliability** of change detection (fixed the relative-vs-absolute path bug from 3.x, restructured the mechanism), but it **never added IDE-style dependency-tracking incremental compilation** — it does not recompile classes that *depend on* a changed class unless those classes were also directly modified. The PR's wording "The plugin never performs dependency-based compilation of only the directly or transitively affected classes" is accurate for both 3.x and 4.x. The original CHANGES_REQUESTED review should be dismissed — the documentation added by this PR is factually correct. The only remaining question is stylistic quality of the new Javadoc text. _This comment was generated by an AI agent, Hermès on behalf of @gnodet._ <!-- reviewer: gnodet-bot --> -- This is an automated message from the Apache Git Service. To respond to the message, please log on to GitHub and use the URL above to go to the specific comment. To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For queries about this service, please contact Infrastructure at: [email protected]
