Java Documentation Override Method does not InheritDoc

Question

A method that overrides another method does not inherit documentation of the method it is overriding. Is there any way to explicitly tell it to inherit the documentation?

/**
  * {@inheritDoc}
  * 
  * This implementation uses a dynamic programming approach.
  */
@Override
public int[] a(int b) {
    return null;
}

Answer 1

According to the javadoc documentation:

Inheriting of comments occurs in all three possible cases of inheritance from classes and interfaces:

• When a method in a class overrides a method in a superclass
• When a method in an interface overrides a method in a superinterface
• When a method in a class implements a method in an interface

Comments can be explicitly inherited using the {@inheritDoc} tag. If no comments are provided for an overriding method, comments will be implicitly inherited. Aspects of the inheriting comments (e.g. params, return value, etc.) can be overridden if you so desire.

Importantly, you need to make sure that the source file containing the code with the comment to be inherited is available to the javadoc tool. You can do this by using the -sourcepath option.