Allow to set/get an attachment on a Channel without the need of

ChannelLocal. See #101

src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/channel/AbstractChannel.java

@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractChannel implements Channel {
     /** Cache for the string representation of this channel */
     private boolean strValConnected;
     private String strVal;
-
+    private volatile Object attachment;
+    
     /**
      * Creates a new instance.
      *
@@ -272,6 +273,16 @@ public abstract class AbstractChannel implements Channel {
         return Channels.write(this, message, remoteAddress);
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public Object getAttachment() {
+        return attachment;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void setAttachment(Object attachment) {
+        this.attachment = attachment;
+    }
+    
     /**
      * Returns the {@link String} representation of this channel.  The returned
      * string contains the {@linkplain #getId() ID}, {@linkplain #getLocalAddress() local address},

src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/channel/Channel.java

@@ -362,4 +362,19 @@ public interface Channel extends Comparable<Channel> {
      *         {@code interestOps} change request succeeds or fails
      */
     ChannelFuture setReadable(boolean readable);
+    
+    /**
+     * Retrieves an object which is {@link #setAttachment(Object) attached} to
+     * this {@link Channel}.
+     *
+     * @return {@code null} if no object was attached or
+     *                      {@code null} was attached
+     */
+    Object getAttachment();
+
+    /**
+     * Attaches an object to this {@link Channel} to store a stateful information
+     * 
+     */
+    void setAttachment(Object attachment);
 }

src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/channel/ChannelLocal.java

@@ -32,8 +32,12 @@ import org.jboss.netty.util.internal.ConcurrentIdentityWeakKeyHashMap;
  * @author <a href="http://www.jboss.org/netty/">The Netty Project</a>
  * @author <a href="http://gleamynode.net/">Trustin Lee</a>
  *
+ * @deprecated Use {@link Channel#setAttachment(Object)} and {@link Channel#getAttachment()}
+ * 
  * @apiviz.stereotype utility
+ * 
  */
+@Deprecated
 public class ChannelLocal<T> {
 
     private final ConcurrentMap<Channel, T> map =