Eclipse ignoring incorrect @Override annotations

Question

For some reason one of my eclipse installations is ignoring incorrectly set @Overrideannotations. For example, if I put @Override on a method that isn't overriden, it just completely ignores it.

Any ideas on how to bring it back to a state where it will display an error for an incorrectly annotated method?

Are you sure that eclipse has ever showed an error on extraneous @override annotations? — NomeN, Sep 10 '09 at 20:13

Joachim Sauer · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-18T10:51:59.583

12

The definition of @Override changed slightly in Java 6 (and unfortunatly without proper documentation) wherein an @Override annotation on a method that implements an interface method is valid. In Java 5 that was considered an error.

edited May 18 '12 at 10:51

answered Sep 14 '09 at 14:09

Joachim Sauer

302,674
57
556
614

Any idea how we can make it a compiler warning in 1.6? – Stephane Grenier Sep 14 '09 at 14:19
3

@Stephane: you can't. If you want a compiler warning for this you must select 1.5 compliance. – Stephen C Sep 14 '09 at 14:26
That's too bad because that's one of the annotations I really took advantage of. – Stephane Grenier Sep 14 '09 at 15:27
@Stephane: you can still do that. If you compile your project with Java 5 (i.e. set compiler level to Java 5 in Eclipse), it will still have the Java 5 semantics. Once you make the switch to Java 6 you'll have to consider the changes in semantics, however. – Joachim Sauer Sep 14 '09 at 15:47

Stephen C · Answer 2 · 2009-09-14T14:26:17.000

My theory is that your Eclipse is configured for JDK 1.6 compliance, but your Ant (or whatever) build is compiling with a JDK 1.5 compiler.

There was a change in the @Override annotation between JDK 1.5. and 1.6. In 1.5, it could only be used when a concrete method actually overrides a concrete method in a superclass. In JDK 1.6, it can also be used when the annotated method implements an abstract method defined in an interface or superclass.

The way to set Eclipse's compliance level is to open Windows>Preferences, select the Java>Compiler pane, and change the "Java Compiler Compliance" setting to 1.5. Then use Apply or OK to apply the preference change.

(AFAIK, there is no way to get Eclipse to give you 1.5 style warnings in 1.6 compliance mode.)

JRL · Answer 3 · 2009-09-10T20:51:31.327

-1

The @override annotation was introduced in the JDK > 1.5.

On this machine would you be using an older version of the JDK by any chance?

edited Sep 10 '09 at 20:51

answered Sep 10 '09 at 19:34

JRL

76,767
18
98
146

This isn't a missing @Override, it's a surplus-to-requirements-@Override! – banjollity Sep 10 '09 at 19:42
It's the opposite of what I'm looking for. There are @Override annotations that are already there when they shouldn't be, and cause compilation errors – Stephane Grenier Sep 10 '09 at 19:47

Eclipse ignoring incorrect @Override annotations

3 Answers3

Linked