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Class Runtime
public final class Runtime
extends Object
Every Java application has a single instance of class
Runtime that allows the application to interface with
the environment in which the application is running. The current
runtime can be obtained from the getRuntime method.
An application cannot create its own instance of this class.
Shutdown Sequence
The Java Virtual Machine initiates the shutdown sequence in response
to one of several events:
- when the number of live non-daemon threads drops to zero
for the first time (see note below on the JNI Invocation API);
- when the
Runtime.exit or System.exit method is called
for the first time; or
- when some external event occurs, such as an interrupt or a signal is received from
the operating system.
At the beginning of the shutdown sequence, the registered shutdown hooks are
started in some unspecified order. They run concurrently
with any daemon or non-daemon threads that were alive
at the beginning of the shutdown sequence.
After the shutdown sequence has begun, registration and de-registration of shutdown hooks
with addShutdownHook and removeShutdownHook
is prohibited. However, creating and starting new threads is permitted. New threads run
concurrently with the registered shutdown hooks and with any daemon or non-daemon threads
that are already running.
The shutdown sequence finishes when all shutdown hooks have terminated. At this point,
the Java Virtual Machine terminates as described below.
It is possible that one or more shutdown hooks do not terminate, for example, because
of an infinite loop. In this case, the shutdown sequence will never finish. Other threads
and shutdown hooks continue to run and can terminate the JVM via the halt method.
Prior to the beginning of the shutdown sequence, it is possible for a program to start
a shutdown hook by calling its start method explicitly. If this occurs, the
behavior of the shutdown sequence is unspecified.
Java Virtual Machine Termination
The JVM terminates when the shutdown sequence finishes or when halt is called.
In contrast to exit, the halt method does not initiate the
shutdown sequence.
When the JVM terminates, all threads are immediately prevented from executing any further
Java code. This includes shutdown hooks as well as daemon and non-daemon threads.
This means, for example, that:
- threads' current methods do not complete normally or abruptly;
finally clauses are not executed;
- uncaught exception handlers are not run; and
- resources opened with try-with-resources are not closed;
- Implementation Note:
- Native code typically uses the
JNI Invocation API
to control launching and termination of the JVM. Such native code invokes the
JNI_CreateJavaVM
function to launch the JVM. Subsequently, the native code invokes the
DestroyJavaVM
function to await termination of that JVM. The DestroyJavaVM function is responsible
for initiating the shutdown sequence when the number of live
non-daemon threads first drops to zero. When the shutdown sequence completes and the JVM
terminates, control is returned to the native code that invoked DestroyJavaVM. This
behavior differs from the exit or halt methods. These methods
typically terminate the OS process hosting the JVM and do not interact with the JNI Invocation
API.
- See Java Language Specification:
-
12.8 Program Exit
- Since:
- 1.0
- External Specifications
-
- See Also:
-
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Nested Class Summary
Nested Classes
Modifier and Type
Class
Description
static final class
A representation of a version string for an implementation of the
Java SE Platform.
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Method Summary
Modifier and Type
Method
Description
void
Registers a new virtual-machine shutdown hook.
int
Returns the number of processors available to the Java virtual machine.
Executes the specified command and arguments in a separate process.
Executes the specified command and arguments in a separate process
with the specified environment.
Executes the specified command and arguments in a separate process with
the specified environment and working directory.
void
long
Returns the amount of free memory in the Java Virtual Machine.
void
Runs the garbage collector in the Java Virtual Machine.
Returns the runtime object associated with the current Java application.
void
void
Restricted.
Loads the native library specified by the filename argument.
void
Restricted.
Loads the native library specified by the libname
argument.
long
Returns the maximum amount of memory that the Java virtual machine
will attempt to use.
boolean
De-registers a previously-registered virtual-machine shutdown hook.
void
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
Finalization has been deprecated for removal.
long
Returns the total amount of memory in the Java virtual machine.
Methods declared in class Object
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait
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Method Details
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getRuntime
Returns the runtime object associated with the current Java application.
Most of the methods of class Runtime are instance
methods and must be invoked with respect to the current runtime object.
- Returns:
- the
Runtime object associated with the current
Java application.
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exit
public void exit(int status)
Initiates the shutdown sequence of the Java Virtual Machine.
This method initiates the shutdown sequence (if it is not already initiated) and
then blocks indefinitely. This method neither returns nor throws an exception; that
is, it does not complete either normally or abruptly.
The argument serves as a status code. By convention, a nonzero status code
indicates abnormal termination.
Successful invocations of this method are serialized such that only one invocation
initiates the shutdown sequence and terminates the VM with the given status code.
All other invocations will perform no action and block indefinitely.
Because a successful invocation of this method blocks indefinitely, if it is invoked
from a shutdown hook, it will prevent that shutdown hook from terminating. Consequently,
this will prevent the shutdown sequence from finishing.
The System.exit method is the
conventional and convenient means of invoking this method.
- Implementation Note:
- If the system logger for
java.lang.Runtime
is enabled with logging level Level.DEBUG the stack trace
of the call to Runtime.exit() is logged.
- Parameters:
status - Termination status. By convention, a nonzero status code
indicates abnormal termination.
- See Also:
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addShutdownHook
public void addShutdownHook(Thread hook)
Registers a new virtual-machine shutdown hook.
A shutdown hook is simply an initialized but unstarted thread. Shutdown hooks
are started at the beginning of the shutdown sequence.
Registration and de-registration of shutdown hooks is disallowed once the shutdown
sequence has begun.
Uncaught exceptions are handled in shutdown hooks just as in any other thread, as
specified in Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler. After the uncaught exception
handler has completed, the shutdown hook is considered to have terminated and is not
treated differently from a hook that has terminated without having thrown an
uncaught exception.
- API Note:
- Shutdown hooks run at a delicate time in the life cycle of a virtual
machine and should therefore be coded defensively. They should, in
particular, be written to be thread-safe and to avoid deadlocks insofar
as possible. They should also not rely blindly upon services that may
have registered their own shutdown hooks and therefore may themselves be
in the process of shutting down. Attempts to use other thread-based
services such as the AWT event-dispatch thread, for example, may lead to
deadlocks.
Shutdown hooks should also finish their work quickly. When a
program invokes exit, the expectation is
that the virtual machine will promptly shut down and exit. When the
virtual machine is terminated due to user logoff or system shutdown the
underlying operating system may only allow a limited amount of time in
which to shut down and exit. It is therefore inadvisable to attempt any
user interaction or to perform a long-running computation in a shutdown
hook.
- Parameters:
hook - An initialized but unstarted Thread object
- Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - If the same hook (compared using ==) as the specified hook has
already been registered, or if it can be determined that the hook is
already running or has already been run
IllegalStateException - If the shutdown sequence has already begun
- Since:
- 1.3
- See Also:
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removeShutdownHook
public boolean removeShutdownHook(Thread hook)
De-registers a previously-registered virtual-machine shutdown hook.
Hooks are compared using ==.
Registration and de-registration of shutdown hooks is disallowed
once the shutdown sequence has begun.
- Parameters:
hook - the hook to remove
- Returns:
true if the specified hook had previously been
registered and was successfully de-registered, false
otherwise.
- Throws:
IllegalStateException - If the shutdown sequence has already begun
- Since:
- 1.3
- See Also:
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halt
public void halt(int status)
Immediately terminates the Java Virtual Machine.
Termination of the Java Virtual Machine is unconditional and immediate.
This method does not initiate the shutdown sequence, nor does
it wait for the shutdown sequence to finish if it is already in progress. An
invocation of this method never returns normally.
- API Note:
- This method should be used with extreme caution. Using it may circumvent or disrupt
any cleanup actions intended to be performed by shutdown hooks, possibly leading to
data corruption. See the termination section above
for other possible consequences of halting the Java Virtual Machine.
- Parameters:
status - Termination status. By convention, a nonzero status code
indicates abnormal termination. If the exit
(equivalently, System.exit) method
has already been invoked then this status code
will override the status code passed to that method.
- Since:
- 1.3
- See Also:
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exec
Deprecated.
This method is error-prone and should not be used, the corresponding method
exec(String[]) or ProcessBuilder should be used instead.
The command string is broken into tokens using only whitespace characters.
For an argument with an embedded space, such as a filename, this can cause problems
as the token does not include the full filename.
Executes the specified string command in a separate process.
This is a convenience method. An invocation of the form
exec(command)
behaves in exactly the same way as the invocation
exec(command, null, null).
- Implementation Note:
- In the reference implementation, logging of the created process can be enabled,
see
ProcessBuilder.start() for details.
- Parameters:
command - a specified system command.
- Returns:
- A new
Process object for managing the subprocess
- Throws:
IOException - If an I/O error occurs
NullPointerException - If command is null
IllegalArgumentException - If command is empty
- See Also:
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exec
Deprecated.
This method is error-prone and should not be used, the corresponding method
exec(String[], String[]) or ProcessBuilder should be used instead.
The command string is broken into tokens using only whitespace characters.
For an argument with an embedded space, such as a filename, this can cause problems
as the token does not include the full filename.
Executes the specified string command in a separate process with the
specified environment.
This is a convenience method. An invocation of the form
exec(command, envp)
behaves in exactly the same way as the invocation
exec(command, envp, null).
- Implementation Note:
- In the reference implementation, logging of the created process can be enabled,
see
ProcessBuilder.start() for details.
- Parameters:
command - a specified system command.
envp - array of strings, each element of which
has environment variable settings in the format
name=value, or
null if the subprocess should inherit
the environment of the current process.
- Returns:
- A new
Process object for managing the subprocess
- Throws:
IOException - If an I/O error occurs
NullPointerException - If command is null,
or one of the elements of envp is null
IllegalArgumentException - If command is empty
- See Also:
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exec
Deprecated.
This method is error-prone and should not be used, the corresponding method
exec(String[], String[], File) or ProcessBuilder should be used instead.
The command string is broken into tokens using only whitespace characters.
For an argument with an embedded space, such as a filename, this can cause problems
as the token does not include the full filename.
Executes the specified string command in a separate process with the
specified environment and working directory.
This is a convenience method. An invocation of the form
exec(command, envp, dir)
behaves in exactly the same way as the invocation
exec(cmdarray, envp, dir),
where cmdarray is an array of all the tokens in
command.
More precisely, the command string is broken
into tokens using a StringTokenizer created by the call
new StringTokenizer(command) with no
further modification of the character categories. The tokens
produced by the tokenizer are then placed in the new string
array cmdarray, in the same order.
- Implementation Note:
- In the reference implementation, logging of the created process can be enabled,
see
ProcessBuilder.start() for details.
- Parameters:
command - a specified system command.
envp - array of strings, each element of which
has environment variable settings in the format
name=value, or
null if the subprocess should inherit
the environment of the current process.
dir - the working directory of the subprocess, or
null if the subprocess should inherit
the working directory of the current process.
- Returns:
- A new
Process object for managing the subprocess
- Throws:
IOException - If an I/O error occurs
NullPointerException - If command is null,
or one of the elements of envp is null
IllegalArgumentException - If command is empty
- Since:
- 1.3
- See Also:
-
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exec
Executes the specified command and arguments in a separate process.
This is a convenience method. An invocation of the form
exec(cmdarray)
behaves in exactly the same way as the invocation
exec(cmdarray, null, null).
- Implementation Note:
- In the reference implementation, logging of the created process can be enabled,
see
ProcessBuilder.start() for details.
- Parameters:
cmdarray - array containing the command to call and
its arguments.
- Returns:
- A new
Process object for managing the subprocess
- Throws:
IOException - If an I/O error occurs
NullPointerException - If cmdarray is null,
or one of the elements of cmdarray is null
IndexOutOfBoundsException - If cmdarray is an empty array
(has length 0)
- See Also:
-
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exec
Executes the specified command and arguments in a separate process
with the specified environment.
This is a convenience method. An invocation of the form
exec(cmdarray, envp)
behaves in exactly the same way as the invocation
exec(cmdarray, envp, null).
- Implementation Note:
- In the reference implementation, logging of the created process can be enabled,
see
ProcessBuilder.start() for details.
- Parameters:
cmdarray - array containing the command to call and
its arguments.
envp - array of strings, each element of which
has environment variable settings in the format
name=value, or
null if the subprocess should inherit
the environment of the current process.
- Returns:
- A new
Process object for managing the subprocess
- Throws:
IOException - If an I/O error occurs
NullPointerException - If cmdarray is null,
or one of the elements of cmdarray is null,
or one of the elements of envp is null
IndexOutOfBoundsException - If cmdarray is an empty array
(has length 0)
- See Also:
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exec
Executes the specified command and arguments in a separate process with
the specified environment and working directory.
Given an array of strings cmdarray, representing the
tokens of a command line, and an array of strings envp,
representing "environment" variable settings, this method creates
a new process in which to execute the specified command.
This method checks that cmdarray is a valid operating
system command. Which commands are valid is system-dependent,
but at the very least the command must be a non-empty list of
non-null strings.
If envp is null, the subprocess inherits the
environment settings of the current process.
A minimal set of system dependent environment variables may
be required to start a process on some operating systems.
As a result, the subprocess may inherit additional environment variable
settings beyond those in the specified environment.
The minimal set of system dependent environment variables
may override the values provided in the environment.
ProcessBuilder.start() is now the preferred way to
start a process with a modified environment.
The working directory of the new subprocess is specified by dir.
If dir is null, the subprocess inherits the
current working directory of the current process.
Starting an operating system process is highly system-dependent.
Among the many things that can go wrong are:
- The operating system program file was not found.
- Access to the program file was denied.
- The working directory does not exist.
In such cases an exception will be thrown. The exact nature
of the exception is system-dependent, but it will always be a
subclass of IOException.
If the operating system does not support the creation of
processes, an UnsupportedOperationException will be thrown.
- Implementation Note:
- In the reference implementation, logging of the created process can be enabled,
see
ProcessBuilder.start() for details.
- Parameters:
cmdarray - array containing the command to call and
its arguments.
envp - array of strings, each element of which
has environment variable settings in the format
name=value, or
null if the subprocess should inherit
the environment of the current process.
dir - the working directory of the subprocess, or
null if the subprocess should inherit
the working directory of the current process.
- Returns:
- A new
Process object for managing the subprocess
- Throws:
UnsupportedOperationException - If the operating system does not support the creation of processes.
IOException - If an I/O error occurs
NullPointerException - If cmdarray is null,
or one of the elements of cmdarray is null,
or one of the elements of envp is null
IndexOutOfBoundsException - If cmdarray is an empty array
(has length 0)
- Since:
- 1.3
- See Also:
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availableProcessors
public int availableProcessors()
Returns the number of processors available to the Java virtual machine.
This value may change during a particular invocation of the virtual
machine. Applications that are sensitive to the number of available
processors should therefore occasionally poll this property and adjust
their resource usage appropriately.
- Returns:
- the maximum number of processors available to the virtual
machine; never smaller than one
- Since:
- 1.4
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freeMemory
public long freeMemory()
Returns the amount of free memory in the Java Virtual Machine.
Calling the
gc method may result in increasing the value returned
by freeMemory.
- Returns:
- an approximation to the total amount of memory currently
available for future allocated objects, measured in bytes.
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totalMemory
public long totalMemory()
Returns the total amount of memory in the Java virtual machine.
The value returned by this method may vary over time, depending on
the host environment.
Note that the amount of memory required to hold an object of any
given type may be implementation-dependent.
- Returns:
- the total amount of memory currently available for current
and future objects, measured in bytes.
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maxMemory
public long maxMemory()
Returns the maximum amount of memory that the Java virtual machine
will attempt to use. If there is no inherent limit then the value
Long.MAX_VALUE will be returned.
- Returns:
- the maximum amount of memory that the virtual machine will
attempt to use, measured in bytes
- Since:
- 1.4
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gc
public void gc()
Runs the garbage collector in the Java Virtual Machine.
Calling this method suggests that the Java Virtual Machine
expend effort toward recycling unused objects in order to
make the memory they currently occupy available for reuse
by the Java Virtual Machine.
When control returns from the method call, the Java Virtual Machine
has made a best effort to reclaim space from all unused objects.
There is no guarantee that this effort will recycle any particular
number of unused objects, reclaim any particular amount of space, or
complete at any particular time, if at all, before the method returns or ever.
There is also no guarantee that this effort will determine
the change of reachability in any particular number of objects,
or that any particular number of Reference
objects will be cleared and enqueued.
The name gc stands for "garbage
collector". The Java Virtual Machine performs this recycling
process automatically as needed, in a separate thread, even if the
gc method is not invoked explicitly.
The method System.gc() is the conventional and convenient
means of invoking this method.
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runFinalization
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
Finalization has been deprecated for removal. See
Object.finalize() for background information and details
about migration options.
When running in a JVM in which finalization has been disabled or removed,
no objects will be pending finalization, so this method does nothing.
Runs the finalization methods of any objects pending finalization.
Calling this method suggests that the Java virtual machine expend
effort toward running the finalize methods of objects
that have been found to be discarded but whose finalize
methods have not yet been run. When control returns from the
method call, the virtual machine has made a best effort to
complete all outstanding finalizations.
The virtual machine performs the finalization process
automatically as needed, in a separate thread, if the
runFinalization method is not invoked explicitly.
The method System.runFinalization() is the conventional
and convenient means of invoking this method.
- See Java Language Specification:
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12.6 Finalization of Class Instances
- See Also:
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load
public void load(String filename)
load is a restricted method of the Java platform.
Programs can only use load when access to restricted methods is enabled.
Restricted methods are unsafe, and, if used incorrectly, might crash the JVM or result in memory corruption.
Loads the native library specified by the filename argument. The filename
argument must be an absolute path name.
(for example
Runtime.getRuntime().load("/home/avh/lib/libX11.so");).
If the filename argument, when stripped of any platform-specific library
prefix, path, and file extension, indicates a library whose name is,
for example, L, and a native library called L is statically linked
with the VM, then the JNI_OnLoad_L function exported by the library
is invoked rather than attempting to load a dynamic library.
A filename matching the argument does not have to exist in the file
system.
See the JNI Specification
for more details.
Otherwise, the filename argument is mapped to a native library image in
an implementation-dependent manner.
This is similar to the method loadLibrary(String)RESTRICTED, but it
accepts a general file name as an argument rather than just a library
name, allowing any file of native code to be loaded.
The method System.load(String)RESTRICTED is the conventional and
convenient means of invoking this method.
- Parameters:
filename - the file to load.
- Throws:
UnsatisfiedLinkError - if either the filename is not an
absolute path name, the native library is not statically
linked with the VM, or the library cannot be mapped to
a native library image by the host system.
NullPointerException - if filename is
null
IllegalCallerException - if the caller is in a module that
does not have native access enabled.
- External Specifications
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- See Also:
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loadLibrary
public void loadLibrary(String libname)
loadLibrary is a restricted method of the Java platform.
Programs can only use loadLibrary when access to restricted methods is enabled.
Restricted methods are unsafe, and, if used incorrectly, might crash the JVM or result in memory corruption.
Loads the native library specified by the libname
argument. The libname argument must not contain any platform
specific prefix, file extension or path. If a native library
called libname is statically linked with the VM, then the
JNI_OnLoad_ libname function exported by the library is invoked.
See the JNI Specification
for more details.
Otherwise, the libname argument is loaded from a system library
location and mapped to a native library image in an
implementation-dependent manner.
The method System.loadLibrary(String)RESTRICTED is the conventional
and convenient means of invoking this method. If native
methods are to be used in the implementation of a class, a standard
strategy is to put the native code in a library file (call it
LibFile) and then to put a static initializer:
static { System.loadLibrary("LibFile"); }
within the class declaration. When the class is loaded and
initialized, the necessary native code implementation for the native
methods will then be loaded as well.
If this method is called more than once with the same library
name, the second and subsequent calls are ignored.
- Parameters:
libname - the name of the library.
- Throws:
UnsatisfiedLinkError - if either the libname argument
contains a file path, the native library is not statically
linked with the VM, or the library cannot be mapped to a
native library image by the host system.
NullPointerException - if libname is
null
IllegalCallerException - if the caller is in a module that
does not have native access enabled.
- External Specifications
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