In Forge 1.12 the ItemAxe and ItemPickaxe constructors are protected, while ItemHoe, ItemSpade and ItemSword are public. Is there a reason for this inconsistency? There are no issues on GitHub about this so I assume it was done intentionally, but I'd like to know if it's an oversight that needs to be fixed or if it was planned.

Usually, when a constructor is protected, it is not the only constructor. What else do you see?

The only one of these constructors added by Forge is ItemAxe(ToolMaterial, float, float), which uses the same access level as the vanilla ItemAxe(ToolMaterial) constructor. All of the others are vanilla constructors whose access levels aren't changed by Forge.

Thanks, I figured that was the case. Is there any way to make these constructors public without?:

1) editing forge's patches

2) editing vanilla minecraft's jar file

3) writing an encapsulating class with public constructors

 

I'm not writing a mod for any actual gameplay reason. It's an introduction into modding and needs to be as minimal in typing as possible. The mod also needs to run across several computers so editing the jars/reinstalling a modified forge patches isn't a viable option. I understand that there probably isn't an easier way to do this but it doesn't hurt to as. 

You could use an Access Transformer, but I'm not sure how much documentation there is on them.

I mean technically that would work, it's not great, but it is a way. Thanks. 

Better question: why do you need those constructors?

I'm using the constructors inside a factory for tools that can create axes, shovels/spades, swords, pickaxes and hoes. I'm doing this instead of creating a subclass for each of the 5 tools which is really what should be done, I'm just using one class that can make any of the 5 because,as said before the typing must be as minimal as possible. Regardless of why I need the constructors it's smart to standardize certain things. They should all be public or all be protected, which is why I asked.