Name: mc57594 Date: 01/29/97


As I understand the rules in section 6.6.2 of the JLS, the
following access
to B.x via a qualified name should not be allowed, because B and D are in
the same package:

======================================================
package Experiments.Test;

public class B {
    protected static int x;
}
======================================================
package Experiments.Test.Test;

import Experiments.Test.B;

class S extends B {
    void f () {
        B.x = 5; // should not be accessible?
        new B().x = 5; // should not be accessible?
    }
}
======================================================

6.6.2 states that:

'If access is by a qualified type name Q.Id, where Q is a TypeName, then
the access is permitted if and only if Q is S or a subclass of S.' In the
example code, B is _not_ S or a subclass of S, so x should not be
accessible unless B and S are in the same package. The second line above
violates the next rule in 6.2.2, which similarly prohibits access to a
protected member if the access is via an expression whose type is that of
the base class.

Is this a bug, or have I misunderstood 6.2.2? I'm not clear on why the
language should require this anyway - it would probably be cleaner (and
just as safe) to make accessibility a function of only 2 things (original
declaration + access context) rather than 3 (original declaration + access
context + access path).
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