/*
 * The MIT License
 * 
 * Copyright (c) 2004-2009, Sun Microsystems, Inc., Kohsuke Kawaguchi
 * 
 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
 * of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
 * in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
 * to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
 * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
 * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
 * 
 * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
 * all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
 * 
 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
 * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
 * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
 * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
 * OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
 * THE SOFTWARE.
 */
package hudson.model;

/**
 * Classes that are described by {@link Descriptor}.
 *
 * @author Kohsuke Kawaguchi
 */
public interface Describable<T extends Describable<T>> {
    /**
     * Gets the descriptor for this instance.
     *
     * <p>
     * {@link Descriptor} is a singleton for every concrete {@link Describable}
     * implementation, so if {@code a.getClass() == b.getClass()} then by default
     * {@code a.getDescriptor() == b.getDescriptor()} as well.
     * (In rare cases a single implementation class may be used for instances with distinct descriptors.)
     */
    Descriptor<T> getDescriptor();
}
