2003-03-15 Jeroen Frijters <jeroen@sumatra.nl>

       * vm/reference/java/lang/VMClassLoader.java (loadClass): Changed
       documentation to make clear null can be returned to signal that the
       class wasn't found.
       * java/lang/ClassLoader.java (loadClass(String,boolean)): Added check
       for null return value from VMClassLoader.loadClass.
       * vm/reference/java/lang/Class.java
       (forName(String,boolean,ClassLoader)): Likewise.
       * NEWS: Add note about VM interface changes.

5 files changed, 43 insertions, 14 deletions

diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 0afc0033d..21c4b8805 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,14 @@
+2003-03-15  Jeroen Frijters  <jeroen@sumatra.nl>
+
+	* vm/reference/java/lang/VMClassLoader.java (loadClass): Changed
+	documentation to make clear null can be returned to signal that the
+	class wasn't found.
+	* java/lang/ClassLoader.java (loadClass(String,boolean)): Added check
+	for null return value from VMClassLoader.loadClass.
+	* vm/reference/java/lang/Class.java
+	(forName(String,boolean,ClassLoader)): Likewise. 
+	* NEWS: Add note about VM interface changes.
+
 2003-03-15  Aaron M. Renn <arenn@urbanophile.com>
 
 	* java/io/FileOutputStream - Fix 1.4 compatibility issue
@@ -37,7 +48,6 @@
 	(nativeReadBuf): offset, len to int, return int
 	(nativeAvailable): return int
 	
-
 2003-03-14  Michael Koch  <konqueror@gmx.de>
 
 	* java/beans/beancontext/BeanContextServicesSupport.java
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 1b5e4243f..5c9bfacf3 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+New in release 0.06 (not-yet-released)
+* VMClassLoader.loadClass(), the bootstrap classloader called by
+  Class.forName() and ClassLoader.loadClass(), may now return null when
+  a class is not found instead of throwing a new ClassNotFoundException.
+  This is a performance optimization in some cases. This also changes
+  the Class.forName() reference code.
+
 New in release 0.05 (2003/02/15)
 * Supports free Java VMs Jikes RVM and Kissme out of the box, perhaps others.
 * Supports GNU Crypto 1.1 as the official provider of cryptographic primitives
diff --git a/java/lang/ClassLoader.java b/java/lang/ClassLoader.java
index 15e007d2a..f30a15f17 100644
--- a/java/lang/ClassLoader.java
+++ b/java/lang/ClassLoader.java
@@ -288,21 +288,28 @@ public abstract class ClassLoader
       if (c != null)
         return c;
 
-      // Can the class been loaded by a parent?
+      // Can the class be loaded by a parent?
       try
+      {
+        if (parent == null)
         {
-          if (parent == null)
-            return VMClassLoader.loadClass(name, resolve);
-          return parent.loadClass(name, resolve);
+          c = VMClassLoader.loadClass(name, resolve);
+          if (c != null)
+            return c;
         }
-      catch (ClassNotFoundException e)
+        else
         {
-          // Still not found, we have to do it ourself.
-          c = findClass(name);
-          if (resolve)
-            resolveClass(c);
-          return c;
+          return parent.loadClass(name, resolve);
         }
+      }
+      catch (ClassNotFoundException e)
+      {
+      }
+      // Still not found, we have to do it ourself.
+      c = findClass(name);
+      if (resolve)
+        resolveClass(c);
+      return c;
     }
 
   /**
diff --git a/vm/reference/java/lang/Class.java b/vm/reference/java/lang/Class.java
index 1ed01eb01..de2b5b240 100755
--- a/vm/reference/java/lang/Class.java
+++ b/vm/reference/java/lang/Class.java
@@ -187,7 +187,10 @@ public final class Class implements Serializable
             if (cl != null)
               sm.checkPermission(new RuntimePermission("getClassLoader"));
           }
-	return VMClassLoader.loadClass(name, initialize);
+	Class c = VMClassLoader.loadClass(name, initialize);
+        if (c != null)
+          return c;
+        throw new ClassNotFoundException(name);
       }
     return classloader.loadClass(name, initialize);
   }
diff --git a/vm/reference/java/lang/VMClassLoader.java b/vm/reference/java/lang/VMClassLoader.java
index 77e2810c5..107f1745e 100644
--- a/vm/reference/java/lang/VMClassLoader.java
+++ b/vm/reference/java/lang/VMClassLoader.java
@@ -117,12 +117,14 @@ final class VMClassLoader
    *
    * @param name the class name to load
    * @param resolve whether to resolve it
-   * @return the class, loaded by the bootstrap classloader
+   * @return the class, loaded by the bootstrap classloader or null
+   * if the class wasn't found. Returning null is equivalent to throwing
+   * a ClassNotFoundException (but a possible performance optimization).
    */
   static final Class loadClass(String name, boolean resolve)
     throws ClassNotFoundException
   {
-    throw new ClassNotFoundException(name);
+    return null;
   }
 
   /**