How do I create a parent-last / child-first ClassLoader in Java, or How to override an old Xerces version that was already loaded in the parent CL?
Today is your lucky day, as I had to solve this exact problem. I warn you though, the innards of class loading are a scary place. Doing this makes me think that the designers of Java never imagined that you might want to have a parent-last classloader.
To use just supply a list of URLs containing classes or jars to be available in the child classloader.
/**
* A parent-last classloader that will try the child classloader first and then the parent.
* This takes a fair bit of doing because java really prefers parent-first.
*
* For those not familiar with class loading trickery, be wary
*/
private static class ParentLastURLClassLoader extends ClassLoader
{
private ChildURLClassLoader childClassLoader;
/**
* This class allows me to call findClass on a classloader
*/
private static class FindClassClassLoader extends ClassLoader
{
public FindClassClassLoader(ClassLoader parent)
{
super(parent);
}
@Override
public Class<?> findClass(String name) throws ClassNotFoundException
{
return super.findClass(name);
}
}
/**
* This class delegates (child then parent) for the findClass method for a URLClassLoader.
* We need this because findClass is protected in URLClassLoader
*/
private static class ChildURLClassLoader extends URLClassLoader
{
private FindClassClassLoader realParent;
public ChildURLClassLoader( URL[] urls, FindClassClassLoader realParent )
{
super(urls, null);
this.realParent = realParent;
}
@Override
public Class<?> findClass(String name) throws ClassNotFoundException
{
try
{
// first try to use the URLClassLoader findClass
return super.findClass(name);
}
catch( ClassNotFoundException e )
{
// if that fails, we ask our real parent classloader to load the class (we give up)
return realParent.loadClass(name);
}
}
}
public ParentLastURLClassLoader(List<URL> classpath)
{
super(Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader());
URL[] urls = classpath.toArray(new URL[classpath.size()]);
childClassLoader = new ChildURLClassLoader( urls, new FindClassClassLoader(this.getParent()) );
}
@Override
protected synchronized Class<?> loadClass(String name, boolean resolve) throws ClassNotFoundException
{
try
{
// first we try to find a class inside the child classloader
return childClassLoader.findClass(name);
}
catch( ClassNotFoundException e )
{
// didn't find it, try the parent
return super.loadClass(name, resolve);
}
}
}
EDIT: Sergio and ɹoƃı have pointed out that if you call .loadClass with the same classname, you will get a LinkageError. While this is true, the normal use-case for this classloader is to set it as the thread's classloader Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader() or via Class.forName(), and that works as-is.
However, if .loadClass() was needed directly, this code could be added in the ChildURLClassLoader findClass method at the top.
Class<?> loaded = super.findLoadedClass(name);
if( loaded != null )
return loaded;
The following code is what I use. It has the advantage over the other answer that it doesn't break the parent chain (you can follow getClassLoader().getParent()).
It also has an advantage over tomcat's WebappClassLoader by not reinventing the wheel and not depending on other objects. It re-uses code from URLClassLoader as much as possible.
(it doesn't yet honor the system class loader, but when I get that fixed I'll update the answer)
It honors the system class loader (for java.* classes, endorsed dir, etc.). It also works when security is turned on and the classloader doesn't have access to its parent (yes, this situation is weird, but possible).
public class ChildFirstURLClassLoader extends URLClassLoader {
private ClassLoader system;
public ChildFirstURLClassLoader(URL[] classpath, ClassLoader parent) {
super(classpath, parent);
system = getSystemClassLoader();
}
@Override
protected synchronized Class<?> loadClass(String name, boolean resolve)
throws ClassNotFoundException {
// First, check if the class has already been loaded
Class<?> c = findLoadedClass(name);
if (c == null) {
if (system != null) {
try {
// checking system: jvm classes, endorsed, cmd classpath, etc.
c = system.loadClass(name);
}
catch (ClassNotFoundException ignored) {
}
}
if (c == null) {
try {
// checking local
c = findClass(name);
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
// checking parent
// This call to loadClass may eventually call findClass again, in case the parent doesn't find anything.
c = super.loadClass(name, resolve);
}
}
}
if (resolve) {
resolveClass(c);
}
return c;
}
@Override
public URL getResource(String name) {
URL url = null;
if (system != null) {
url = system.getResource(name);
}
if (url == null) {
url = findResource(name);
if (url == null) {
// This call to getResource may eventually call findResource again, in case the parent doesn't find anything.
url = super.getResource(name);
}
}
return url;
}
@Override
public Enumeration<URL> getResources(String name) throws IOException {
/**
* Similar to super, but local resources are enumerated before parent resources
*/
Enumeration<URL> systemUrls = null;
if (system != null) {
systemUrls = system.getResources(name);
}
Enumeration<URL> localUrls = findResources(name);
Enumeration<URL> parentUrls = null;
if (getParent() != null) {
parentUrls = getParent().getResources(name);
}
final List<URL> urls = new ArrayList<URL>();
if (systemUrls != null) {
while(systemUrls.hasMoreElements()) {
urls.add(systemUrls.nextElement());
}
}
if (localUrls != null) {
while (localUrls.hasMoreElements()) {
urls.add(localUrls.nextElement());
}
}
if (parentUrls != null) {
while (parentUrls.hasMoreElements()) {
urls.add(parentUrls.nextElement());
}
}
return new Enumeration<URL>() {
Iterator<URL> iter = urls.iterator();
public boolean hasMoreElements() {
return iter.hasNext();
}
public URL nextElement() {
return iter.next();
}
};
}
@Override
public InputStream getResourceAsStream(String name) {
URL url = getResource(name);
try {
return url != null ? url.openStream() : null;
} catch (IOException e) {
}
return null;
}
}
By reading the source code of either Jetty or Tomcat, both of which provide parent-last class loaders to implement webapp semantics.
https://github.com/apache/tomcat/blob/7.0.93/java/org/apache/catalina/loader/WebappClassLoaderBase.java
Which is to say, by overriding the findClass method in your ClassLoader class. But why reinvent the wheel when you can steal it?
Reading your various updates, I see that you ran into some classic problems with the XML SPI system.
The general problem is this: if you create a completely isolated class loader, then it's hard to use the objects it returns. If you allow sharing, you can have problems when the parent contains the wrong versions of things.
It is to deal with all this lunacy that OSGi was invented, but that's a big pill to swallow.
Even in webapps, the class loaders exempt some packages from the 'local-first' processing on the assumption that the container and the webapp have to agree on the API between them.