Throwable.printStackTraceAsCause should be protected instead of private

Question

Hello java gods!
I've no idea, whether this is the right forum to post my request to, but I hope, some sun java developers will read it and may be able to do the following change:
class Throwable, method void printStackTraceAsCause(PrintStream s, StackTraceElement[] causedTrace)
and
class Throwable, method void printStackTraceAsCause(PrintWriter s, StackTraceElement[] causedTrace)
are both declared private. This should be protected, because we are developing a client server environment where exceptions are transferred over the network and for several reasons, I use a special own StackTraceElement. This is necessary, because the original StackTraceElements are created "magically" by the VM and cannot be constructed by normal code. Additionally, I need more information and have added fields to my own RemoteStackTraceElement.
Well, if the above methods were protected instead of private, it would always execute my methods instead of the original ones, if one of my Exceptions is in the list of causes. This means, I could encapsulate my exception the following way, which is sometimes needed, e.g. in Listeners:
void methodGivenByInterface()
throws ExceptionGivenByInterface
try {
client.execCmd(...);
} catch (RemoteException x) {
throw new ExceptionGivenByInterface(x);
If the method that executes myMethod does a printStackTrace, it executes the one of ExceptionGivenByInterface. Because my RemoteException is the cause, the printStackTraceAsCause of it will be executed. But because it is declared private in Throwable, it does not execute my own printStackTraceAsCause but the one of Throwable.
I hope, I could make clear, why it is necessary to change private to protected, and I hope, someone finds the time to change this one word at both methods ;-)
Thousand thanks in advance for getting a protected Throwable.printStackTraceAsCause in j2sdk1.5x!
Best regards, Marco ;-)

Answer 1

Hello java gods!Boom! [thunder sound] Thou darest approach me? ;-)
I hope, I could make clear, why it is necessary to
change private to protected, and I hope, someone finds
the time to change this one word at both methods ;-)Nope, I don't understand why changing this method to protected would help you.
As I understand it, you are simply chaining exceptions, wrapping a remote exception inside another to pass back to the client. You can do this with any exception by using setRootCause() method or the RuntimeException(String, Throwable) constructor.
Thousand thanks in advance for getting a protected
Throwable.printStackTraceAsCause in j2sdk1.5x!Um, whatever.