diff -r 000000000000 -r a61af66fc99e src/share/vm/runtime/fieldType.hpp
--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/src/share/vm/runtime/fieldType.hpp	Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 2007 +0000
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 1997-2002 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
+ * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
+ *
+ * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+ * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation.
+ *
+ * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+ * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
+ * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
+ * accompanied this code).
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
+ * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+ * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+ *
+ * Please contact Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara,
+ * CA 95054 USA or visit www.sun.com if you need additional information or
+ * have any questions.
+ *
+ */
+
+// Note: FieldType should be based on the SignatureIterator (or vice versa).
+//       In any case, this structure should be re-thought at some point.
+
+// A FieldType is used to determine the type of a field from a signature string.
+
+class FieldType: public AllStatic {
+ private:
+  static void skip_optional_size(symbolOop signature, int* index);
+  static bool is_valid_array_signature(symbolOop signature);
+ public:
+
+  // Return basic type
+  static BasicType basic_type(symbolOop signature);
+
+  // Testing
+  static bool is_array(symbolOop signature) { return signature->utf8_length() > 1 && signature->byte_at(0) == '[' && is_valid_array_signature(signature); }
+
+  static bool is_obj(symbolOop signature) {
+     int sig_length = signature->utf8_length();
+     // Must start with 'L' and end with ';'
+     return (sig_length >= 2 &&
+             (signature->byte_at(0) == 'L') &&
+             (signature->byte_at(sig_length - 1) == ';'));
+  }
+
+  // Parse field and extract array information. Works for T_ARRAY only.
+  static BasicType get_array_info(symbolOop signature, jint* dimension, symbolOop *object_key, TRAPS);
+};