--- a/src/share/vm/oops/markOop.cpp	Wed Mar 12 18:06:50 2008 -0700
+++ b/src/share/vm/oops/markOop.cpp	Wed Mar 12 18:07:46 2008 -0700
@@ -37,3 +37,32 @@
     st->print("age %d)", age());
   }
 }
+
+
+// Give advice about whether the oop that contains this markOop
+// should be cached or not.
+bool markOopDesc::should_not_be_cached() const {
+  // the cast is because decode_pointer() isn't marked const
+  if (is_marked() && ((markOopDesc *)this)->decode_pointer() != NULL) {
+    // If the oop containing this markOop is being forwarded, then
+    // we are in the middle of GC and we do not want the containing
+    // oop to be added to a cache. We have no way of knowing whether
+    // the cache has already been visited by the current GC phase so
+    // we don't know whether the forwarded oop will be properly
+    // processed in this phase. If the forwarded oop is not properly
+    // processed, then we'll see strange crashes or asserts during
+    // the next GC run because the markOop will contain an unexpected
+    // value.
+    //
+    // This situation has been seen when we are GC'ing a methodOop
+    // because we use the methodOop while we're GC'ing it. Scary
+    // stuff. Some of the uses the methodOop cause the methodOop to
+    // be added to the OopMapCache in the instanceKlass as a side
+    // effect. This check lets the cache maintainer know when a
+    // cache addition would not be safe.
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  // caching the containing oop should be just fine
+  return false;
+}