This change is in support of certain polymorphism cases in
@Configuration class inheritance hierarchies. Consider the following
scenario:
@Configuration
public abstract class AbstractConfig {
public abstract Object bean();
}
@Configuration
public class ConcreteConfig {
@Override@Bean
public BeanPostProcessor bean() { ... }
}
ConcreteConfig overrides AbstractConfig's #bean() method with a
covariant return type, in this case returning an object of type
BeanPostProcessor. It is critically important that the container
is able to detect the return type of ConcreteConfig#bean() in order
to instantiate the BPP at the right point in the lifecycle.
Prior to this change, the container could not do this.
AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory#getTypeForFactoryMethod called
ReflectionUtils#getAllDeclaredMethods, which returned Method objects
for both the Object and BeanPostProcessor signatures of the #bean()
method. This confused the implementation sufficiently as not to
choose a type for the factory method at all. This means that the
BPP never gets detected as a BPP.
The new method being introduced here, #getUniqueDeclaredMethods, takes
covariant return types into account, and filters out duplicates,
favoring the most specific / narrow return type.
Additionally, it filters out any CGLIB 'rewritten' methods, which
is important in the case of @Configuration classes, which are
enhanced by CGLIB. See the implementation for further details.
Chris Beams