Summary

Remove the ability to generate output that uses HTML frames to display the documentation.

Problem

Frames are an old technology. We have been migrating towards the use of alternate ways to navigate the documentation generated by javadoc, including the use of javadoc Search. Maintaining the code to generate and use frames is a maintenance burden. There is not a sufficient use case to retain this feature.

Solution

Remove the ability to generate frame-based output.

Specification

The --frames option will be removed.

The --no-frames option will be retained, to avoid breaking client scripts, but will be downgraded to a hidden, undocumented option. It will no longer appear in command-line help or man pages. In this release, a note will be generated when the option is used, and saying that the option may be completely removed in a future release.

The change will be noted in the Release Notes for the umbrella bug, JDK-8215608, and publicized on jdk-dev@o.j.n.