前言

Android有两个主要的classloader，分别是PathClassLoader、DexClassLoader。它们都继承自于BaseDexClassLoader。PathClassLoader主要是用来加载系统类和主Dex中的类，而DexClassLoader主要是用来加载其他Dex文件的类。

PathClassLoader

现在来看一下PathClassLoader的源码，如下所示：

/**
 * Provides a simple {@link ClassLoader} implementation that operates on a list
 * of files and directories in the local file system, but does not attempt to
 * load classes from the network. Android uses this class for its system class
 * loader and for its application class loader(s).
 */
public class PathClassLoader extends BaseDexClassLoader {
    /**
     * Creates a {@code PathClassLoader} that operates on a given list of files
     * and directories. This method is equivalent to calling
     * {@link #PathClassLoader(String, String, ClassLoader)} with a
     * {@code null} value for the second argument (see description there).
     *
     * @param dexPath the list of jar/apk files containing classes and
     * resources, delimited by {@code File.pathSeparator}, which
     * defaults to {@code ":"} on Android
     * @param parent the parent class loader
     */
    public PathClassLoader(String dexPath, ClassLoader parent) {
        super(dexPath, null, null, parent);
    }
    /**
     * Creates a {@code PathClassLoader} that operates on two given
     * lists of files and directories. The entries of the first list
     * should be one of the following:
     *
     * <ul>
     * <li>JAR/ZIP/APK files, possibly containing a "classes.dex" file as
     * well as arbitrary resources.
     * <li>Raw ".dex" files (not inside a zip file).
     * </ul>
     *
     * The entries of the second list should be directories containing
     * native library files.
     *
     * @param dexPath the list of jar/apk files containing classes and
     * resources, delimited by {@code File.pathSeparator}, which
     * defaults to {@code ":"} on Android
     * @param libraryPath the list of directories containing native
     * libraries, delimited by {@code File.pathSeparator}; may be
     * {@code null}
     * @param parent the parent class loader
     */
    public PathClassLoader(String dexPath, String libraryPath,
            ClassLoader parent) {
        super(dexPath, null, libraryPath, parent);
    }
}

有两个构造函数，分别调用了父类BaseDexClassLoader的构造函数。

DexClassLoader

再看一下DexClassLoader的源码，如下所示：

/**
 * A class loader that loads classes from {@code .jar} and {@code .apk} files
 * containing a {@code classes.dex} entry. This can be used to execute code not
 * installed as part of an application.
 *
 * <p>This class loader requires an application-private, writable directory to
 * cache optimized classes. Use {@code Context.getDir(String, int)} to create
 * such a directory: <pre>   {@code
 *   File dexOutputDir = context.getDir("dex", 0);
 * }</pre>
 *
 * <p><strong>Do not cache optimized classes on external storage.</strong>
 * External storage does not provide access controls necessary to protect your
 * application from code injection attacks.
 */
public class DexClassLoader extends BaseDexClassLoader {
    /**
     * Creates a {@code DexClassLoader} that finds interpreted and native
     * code.  Interpreted classes are found in a set of DEX files contained
     * in Jar or APK files.
     *
     * <p>The path lists are separated using the character specified by the
     * {@code path.separator} system property, which defaults to {@code :}.
     *
     * @param dexPath the list of jar/apk files containing classes and
     *     resources, delimited by {@code File.pathSeparator}, which
     *     defaults to {@code ":"} on Android
     * @param optimizedDirectory directory where optimized dex files
     *     should be written; must not be {@code null}
     * @param libraryPath the list of directories containing native
     *     libraries, delimited by {@code File.pathSeparator}; may be
     *     {@code null}
     * @param parent the parent class loader
     */
    public DexClassLoader(String dexPath, String optimizedDirectory,
            String libraryPath, ClassLoader parent) {
        super(dexPath, new File(optimizedDirectory), libraryPath, parent);
    }
}

可以看到构造函数还是调用了父类BaseDexClassLoader的构造函数。与PathClassLoader不同的是，第二个参数optimizedDirectory不为null。接下来我们重点分析BaseDexClassLoader。

BaseDexClassLoader

BaseDexClassLoader只有一个构造函数，如下：

/**
     * Constructs an instance.
     *
     * @param dexPath the list of jar/apk files containing classes and
     * resources, delimited by {@code File.pathSeparator}, which
     * defaults to {@code ":"} on Android
     * @param optimizedDirectory directory where optimized dex files
     * should be written; may be {@code null}
     * @param libraryPath the list of directories containing native
     * libraries, delimited by {@code File.pathSeparator}; may be
     * {@code null}
     * @param parent the parent class loader
     */
    public BaseDexClassLoader(String dexPath, File optimizedDirectory,
            String libraryPath, ClassLoader parent) {
        super(parent);
        this.originalPath = dexPath;
        this.pathList =
            new DexPathList(this, dexPath, libraryPath, optimizedDirectory);
    }

主要做的事情是生成了一个DexPathList类型的对象。我们进去DexPathList中看里面的逻辑。

/**
     * Constructs an instance.
     *
     * @param definingContext the context in which any as-yet unresolved
     * classes should be defined
     * @param dexPath list of dex/resource path elements, separated by
     * {@code File.pathSeparator}
     * @param libraryPath list of native library directory path elements,
     * separated by {@code File.pathSeparator}
     * @param optimizedDirectory directory where optimized {@code .dex} files
     * should be found and written to, or {@code null} to use the default
     * system directory for same
     */
    public DexPathList(ClassLoader definingContext, String dexPath,
            String libraryPath, File optimizedDirectory) {
        if (definingContext == null) {
            throw new NullPointerException("definingContext == null");
        }
        if (dexPath == null) {
            throw new NullPointerException("dexPath == null");
        }
        if (optimizedDirectory != null) {
            if (!optimizedDirectory.exists())  {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                        "optimizedDirectory doesn't exist: "
                        + optimizedDirectory);
            }
            if (!(optimizedDirectory.canRead()
                            && optimizedDirectory.canWrite())) {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                        "optimizedDirectory not readable/writable: "
                        + optimizedDirectory);
            }
        }
        this.definingContext = definingContext;
        this.dexElements =
            makeDexElements(splitDexPath(dexPath), optimizedDirectory);
        this.nativeLibraryDirectories = splitLibraryPath(libraryPath);
    }

DexPathList的构造函数主要调用makeDexElements方法为每一个Dex文件生成了一个Element对象，并将所有的Element对象存储在一个数组中：

private static Element[] makeDexElements(ArrayList<File> files, File optimizedDirectory,
                                         ArrayList<IOException> suppressedExceptions) {
    ArrayList<Element> elements = new ArrayList<Element>();
    // 所有从dexPath找到的文件
    for (File file : files) {
        File zip = null;
        DexFile dex = null;
        String name = file.getName();
        // 如果是文件夹，就直接将路径添加到Element中
        if (file.isDirectory()) {
            elements.add(new Element(file, true, null, null));
        } else if (file.isFile()){
            // 如果是文件且文件名以.dex结束
            if (name.endsWith(DEX_SUFFIX)) {
                try {
                    // 直接从.dex文件生成DexFile对象
                    dex = loadDexFile(file, optimizedDirectory);
                } catch (IOException ex) {
                    System.logE("Unable to load dex file: " + file, ex);
                }
            } else {
                zip = file;

                try {
                    // 从APK/JAR文件中读取dex文件
                    dex = loadDexFile(file, optimizedDirectory);
                } catch (IOException suppressed) {
                    suppressedExceptions.add(suppressed);
                }
            }
        } else {
            System.logW("ClassLoader referenced unknown path: " + file);
        }

        if ((zip != null) || (dex != null)) {
            elements.add(new Element(file, false, zip, dex));
        }
    }

    return elements.toArray(new Element[elements.size()]);
}

而makeDexElements方法中主要调用了loadDexFile生成DexFile对象，而loadDexFile的源码如下：

/**
     * Constructs a {@code DexFile} instance, as appropriate depending
     * on whether {@code optimizedDirectory} is {@code null}.
     */
    private static DexFile loadDexFile(File file, File optimizedDirectory)
            throws IOException {
        if (optimizedDirectory == null) {
            return new DexFile(file);
        } else {
            String optimizedPath = optimizedPathFor(file, optimizedDirectory);
            return DexFile.loadDex(file.getPath(), optimizedPath, 0);
        }
    }

而DexFile.loadDex方法最终还是会调用DexFile的构造函数，它们最终的区别是在调用openDexFile方法时传入的第二个参数outputName是否为null。

/*
     * Open a DEX file.  The value returned is a magic VM cookie.  On
     * failure, an IOException is thrown.
     */
    native private static int openDexFile(String sourceName, String outputName,
        int flags) throws IOException;

那为什么PathClassLoader可以直接传参数null呢？因为我们的应用已经安装并优化了，优化后的dex存在于/data/dalvik-cache目录下，这是系统默认的文件夹。所以当openDexFile的第二个参数为null时，它会从该目录下找相对应的dex文件并将优化后的dex存放在/data/dalvik-cache目录下。而/data/dalvik-cache目录我们是没有访问权限的，所以PathClassLoader只能加载系统或者主Dex类的，而DexClassLoader可以加载其他类的Dex文件。 最后我们看一下DexPathList的findClass方法。

public Class findClass(String name) {
        for (Element element : dexElements) {
            DexFile dex = element.dexFile;
            if (dex != null) {
                Class clazz = dex.loadClassBinaryName(name, definingContext);
                if (clazz != null) {
                    return clazz;
                }
            }
        }
        return null;
    }

遍历上面说到的Element数组并从每一个目标Dex文件中查找目标类。找到后并返回。