[aspectj-users] How can i change modifier from private to public? AST? P

["Timo Meinen" <aspectj-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I am writing my master's thesis and using AspectJ for a special access  
control enforcement due to the thesis' challenge. I want to loosen the  
access control of the 'private' modifier. For example it is possible to  
realize a friendship-concept of classes. My problem is, that objects shall  
have access to private-fields and -methods, but then, the compiler won't  
compile. My solution is to preprocess these private modifiers  and convert  
them into public. The correct access control enforcement is done by an  
aspect.

@AccessControl
private int foo;

shall be converted to

@AccessControl
public int foo;

After this covnersion, the appropriate aspects should work on the  
annotated, public fields and methods.

The affected modifiers are identified by an annotation. At the moment I am  
using a Java-6 processor and modify the abstract syntax tree (AST), which  
is on the one hand complex and on the other not AspectJ compatible (I  
think).

How can I solve this problem with AspectJ?

Some ideas/questions:
1) Is AspectJ able to process annotations with an Javac-6-Processor?
2) Can AspectJ change the access modifier before compilation?
3) Is it possible that AspectJ converts private to public "on the fly"  
before compiling? It is important, that the original source file isn't  
modificated.
4) Can I modify the AST of the AspectJ-Compiler? Is there a API available?
5) Do I have to use a preprocessor? Does anyone know a preprocessor with  
this annotation capabilities? I wasn't able to get it to work with APT.   
But I would love to have a all-in-one-AspectJ-solution.

Thank you very much for your ideas.

Timo Meinen (timomeinen@xxxxxxxxx)