java 8 - Do Java8 lambdas maintain a reference to their enclosing instance like anonymous classes?

Question

We know that anonymous classes maintain a reference to their enclosing instance and that this can lead to context leaks on Android.

Since retrolambda backports lambdas to Java7, it could be worth a try.

It seems that Java8 lambdas do not have this problem, but I can't find any official information on that.

Any clue?

Answer 1

Lambda expressions and method references capture a reference to this only if required, i.e. when this is referenced directly or an instance (non-static) member is accessed.

Of course, if your lambda expression captures the value of a local variable and that value contains a reference to this it implies referencing this as well…