Dynamicly added annotations are not visible

Support
1

I am trying to add support for kotest for a test intelligence tool. To do so, I need to be able to add the Ignored annotation to classes dynamically using a Java agent, but the annotation seems to not be visible to Kotlin.

The annotation is visible when using Java reflection. If I call MySpec::class.java.declaredAnnotations, I can see the annotation that I added. If I however, such as kotest, call MySpec::class.annotations, it is not visible.

If I add any unrelated annotation to MySpec, the annotation does show up, and suddenly my dynamic annotation also becomes visible.

What do I need to do to add an annotation to a Kotlin class and make it visible? What prevents Kotlin reflection to see the annotation that is clearly present on the class file?

2

You may need to do some Kotlin metadata manipulation I think. See kotlin-metadata

3

I considered this, but I do not understand where I would need to flip a bit. Metadata contains these bits:

  • is KotlinClassMetadata.Class -> "Class ${kcm.kmClass.name}"

  • is KotlinClassMetadata.FileFacade -> "File facade with functions: ${kcm.kmPackage.functions.joinToString { it.name }}"

  • is KotlinClassMetadata.SyntheticClass -> kcm.kmLambda?.function?.name?.let { "Lambda $it" } ?: "Synthetic class"

  • is KotlinClassMetadata.MultiFileClassFacade -> "Multifile class facade with parts: ${kcm.partClassNames.joinToString()}"

  • is KotlinClassMetadata.MultiFileClassPart -> "Multifile class part ${kcm.facadeClassName}"

  • is KotlinClassMetadata.Unknown -> "Unknown metadata"