Name: sgC58550 Date: 05/16/97


currently, Thread.init() gets currentThread() and stores it to a local
variable in order to get the "parent" thread's ThreadGroup (in some
cases). i'd like to request that this be stored in a member field
and that a get-accessor be added to Thread:
  public class Thread implements Runnable
  {
    ...
    private Thread parent;
    ...
    private void init(...)
    {
      parent = currentThread();
      ...
    }
  }

generically, information is being passed from the parent thread to
a child thread; but this information is currently limitted to the
ThreadGroup. in my project, i extend Thread to store some per-Thread
information. since i can't force all code (eg awt code) to use my
special Thread, i'd like instead to be able to trace the "ancestry"
of any given Thread; if an instance of my Thread subclass is found
in the ancestry, i'd use that ancestor's stored information.

this seems to me a very simple and useful addition. for example, in
an implementation of JavaSoft's JTS, this information could be used
to enable the default transfer of transaction context information to
spawned threads.

i do realize, however, this probably requires VM modifications,
since Thread is such a low-level class.

======================================================================