Package org.antlr.v4.runtime

Class RuntimeMetaData

  • public class RuntimeMetaData
extends Object
    This class provides access to the current version of the ANTLR 4 runtime library as compile-time and runtime constants, along with methods for checking for matching version numbers and notifying listeners in the case where a version mismatch is detected.

    The runtime version information is provided by VERSION and getRuntimeVersion(). Detailed information about these values is provided in the documentation for each member.

    The runtime version check is implemented by checkVersion(java.lang.String, java.lang.String). Detailed information about incorporating this call into user code, as well as its use in generated code, is provided in the documentation for the method.

    Version strings x.y and x.y.z are considered "compatible" and no error would be generated. Likewise, version strings x.y-SNAPSHOT and x.y.z are considered "compatible" because the major and minor components x.y are the same in each.

    To trap any error messages issued by this code, use System.setErr() in your main() startup code.

    Since:
    4.3

    • Field Detail

      • VERSION

        public static final String VERSION
        A compile-time constant containing the current version of the ANTLR 4 runtime library.

        This compile-time constant value allows generated parsers and other libraries to include a literal reference to the version of the ANTLR 4 runtime library the code was compiled against. At each release, we change this value.

        Version numbers are assumed to have the form major.minor.patch.revision-suffix, with the individual components defined as follows.

        • major is a required non-negative integer, and is equal to 4 for ANTLR 4.
        • minor is a required non-negative integer.
        • patch is an optional non-negative integer. When patch is omitted, the . (dot) appearing before it is also omitted.
        • revision is an optional non-negative integer, and may only be included when patch is also included. When revision is omitted, the . (dot) appearing before it is also omitted.
        • suffix is an optional string. When suffix is omitted, the - (hyphen-minus) appearing before it is also omitted.
        See Also:
        Constant Field Values

    • Constructor Detail

      • RuntimeMetaData

        public RuntimeMetaData()

    • Method Detail

      • getRuntimeVersion

        public static String getRuntimeVersion()
        Gets the currently executing version of the ANTLR 4 runtime library.

        This method provides runtime access to the VERSION field, as opposed to directly referencing the field as a compile-time constant.

        Returns:
        The currently executing version of the ANTLR 4 library

      • checkVersion

        public static void checkVersion​(String generatingToolVersion,
                                String compileTimeVersion)
        This method provides the ability to detect mismatches between the version of ANTLR 4 used to generate a parser, the version of the ANTLR runtime a parser was compiled against, and the version of the ANTLR runtime which is currently executing.

        The version check is designed to detect the following two specific scenarios.

        • The ANTLR Tool version used for code generation does not match the currently executing runtime version.
        • The ANTLR Runtime version referenced at the time a parser was compiled does not match the currently executing runtime version.

        Starting with ANTLR 4.3, the code generator emits a call to this method using two constants in each generated lexer and parser: a hard-coded constant indicating the version of the tool used to generate the parser and a reference to the compile-time constant VERSION. At runtime, this method is called during the initialization of the generated parser to detect mismatched versions, and notify the registered listeners prior to creating instances of the parser.

        This method does not perform any detection or filtering of semantic changes between tool and runtime versions. It simply checks for a version match and emits an error to stderr if a difference is detected.

        Note that some breaking changes between releases could result in other types of runtime exceptions, such as a LinkageError, prior to calling this method. In these cases, the underlying version mismatch will not be reported here. This method is primarily intended to notify users of potential semantic changes between releases that do not result in binary compatibility problems which would be detected by the class loader. As with semantic changes, changes that break binary compatibility between releases are mentioned in the release notes accompanying the affected release.

        Additional note for target developers: The version check implemented by this class is designed to address specific compatibility concerns that may arise during the execution of Java applications. Other targets should consider the implementation of this method in the context of that target's known execution environment, which may or may not resemble the design provided for the Java target.

        Parameters:
        generatingToolVersion - The version of the tool used to generate a parser. This value may be null when called from user code that was not generated by, and does not reference, the ANTLR 4 Tool itself.
        compileTimeVersion - The version of the runtime the parser was compiled against. This should always be passed using a direct reference to VERSION.

      • getMajorMinorVersion

        public static String getMajorMinorVersion​(String version)
        Gets the major and minor version numbers from a version string. For details about the syntax of the input version. E.g., from x.y.z return x.y.
        Parameters:
        version - The complete version string.
        Returns:
        A string of the form major.minor containing only the major and minor components of the version string.