Automatic discovery of the java classloader delegation hierarchy

A data processing system for automatic discovery of a classloader delegation hierarchy, the data processing system comprising:

• a bus;
• a storage device connected to the bus, wherein the storage device contains computer usable code;
• at least one managed device connected to the bus;
• a communications unit connected to the bus;
• and
• a processing unit connected to the bus, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable code to instrument one or more classloaders with byte code instrumentation code such that a delegation event is received each time the one or more classloaders delegate a resource finding method to a parent classloader of the one or more classloaders;
• determine, from each delegation event received, a classloader that generated the delegation event and a parent classloader to which the classloader directly delegates the resource finding method;
• determine, based on the delegation events received, the classloaders to which a current classloader in the one or more classloaders can directly delegate;
• and determine an order of delegation to the classloaders.

A computer program product for automatic discovery of a classloader delegation hierarchy, the computer program product comprising:

• a tangible computer recordable storage medium having computer usable program code tangibly stored thereon, the computer usable program code comprising:
• computer usable program code for instrumenting one or more classloaders with byte code instrumentation code such that a delegation event is received each time the one or more classloaders delegate a resource finding method to a parent classloader of the one or more classloaders;
• computer usable program code for determining, from each delegation event received, a classloader that generated the delegation event and a parent classloader to which the classloader directly delegates the resource finding method;
• computer usable program code for determining, based on the delegation events received, the classloaders to which a current classloader in the one or more classloaders can directly delegate;
• and
• computer usable program code for determining an order of delegation to the classloaders.