Consistency in equals and hashcode implementations

Overriding the equals/hashcode methods defined on the Object class is very difficult to implement correctly (see Effective Java by Josh Block for a description of the minefield buried here). We should instead try to delegate the responsibility of overriding these methods to a framework to insure correct and consistent implementations. Possibilities her are:

Solution	Pros	Cons
Use the IDE's built-in code generators to generate equals and hashcode methods	No new framework need to be added to the project	Will not be consistent across the system because of the different IDE's and configurations used by the developers. May also be difficult to maintain, as a developer needing the update the attributes used in the equals and hashcode methods will properly have to generate to regenerate the full implementation, thereby cluttering the SCM with bloated changeds. Developers need to remember to add any new attributes to both the hashcode and equals methods.
Use a framework with hashcode and equals generators, like the EqualsBuilder and HashCodeBuilder from the Apache Commons Lang library.	Short and concise hashcode and equals implementation code. Consistent implementations. Relatively easy to maintain.	May need inclusion of a new framework. More dependent on the developers using the EqualsBuilder and HashCodeBuilder correctly. Developers need to remember to add any new attributes to both the hashcode and equals methods.
Use a data object generation framework, which would take care of many of the common data object challenges. An example of such a framework can be found in the JEntity project, which is maintained by our own M.	No developer involvement in implementing any data object code, nor any test code. Consistent data object implementation. Correct data object implementations Formal domain model. Data objects will be auto generated, decreasing the source base.	Introduction of new framework. Some JEntity development work might be needed.

Unknown macro: {vote}

Continue as usual
Use IDE geenration
Use Apache framework
Use Jentity