content: /*
   *  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
   *  or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
   *  distributed with this work for additional information
   *  regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
   *  to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
   *  "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
   *  with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
   *
   *        http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
   *
   *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
   *  software distributed under the License is distributed on an
   *  "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
   *  KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
   *  specific language governing permissions and limitations
   *  under the License.
   */
  
  package org.apache.causeway.applib.annotation;
  
  import java.lang.annotation.Documented;
  import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
  import java.lang.annotation.Inherited;
  import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
  import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
  import java.lang.annotation.Target;
  
  import org.springframework.context.annotation.ComponentScan;
  import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
  import org.springframework.context.annotation.Import;
  
  /**
   * Intended to be annotated on the root marker class of a (Maven) module which contains a single coherent set of
   * functionality, possibly including domain services.
   *
   * <p>
   * A {@link Module @Module} (because it's a meta-annotation) is also a Spring {@link Configuration @Configuration},
   * which means that the functionality can be depended upon transitively using Spring's {@link Import @Import}
   * annotation. Normally the import graph mirrors the dependencies in Maven.
   * </p>
   *
   * <p>
   * Also, a {@link Module @Module} also declares the Spring {@link ComponentScan @ComponentScan} (with no parameters),
   * which means that any domain services in the same package or subpackages are automatically found and registered.
   * </p>
   *
   * @since 2.x {@index}
   * @implNote - there are possible performance implications from using this annotation, because it may result in
   *             scanning more classes than are needed.  It is therefore not used within the framework code, but is
   *             provided as a convenience by domain applications.
   */
  @Inherited
  @Target({ ElementType.TYPE })
  @Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
  @Configuration
  @Documented
  @ComponentScan
  public @interface Module {
  }
  