Introduce RuntimeHints support in AotContextLoader

This commit introduces a new loadContextForAotProcessing(...) variant
in AotContextLoader which accepts a RuntimeHints argument. This new
method is an interface default method which delegates to the existing
loadContextForAotProcessing(MergedContextConfiguration) variant.

Note, however, that the framework now only invokes the new
loadContextForAotProcessing(...) variant within TestContextAotGenerator.

Closes spring-projectsgh-34513

spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/aot/AotContextLoader.java

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2022 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2025 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 package org.springframework.test.context.aot;
 
+import org.springframework.aot.hint.RuntimeHints;
 import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
 import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextInitializer;
 import org.springframework.context.ConfigurableApplicationContext;
@@ -25,9 +26,9 @@
 
 /**
  * Strategy interface for loading an {@link ApplicationContext} for build-time
- * {@linkplain #loadContextForAotProcessing AOT processing} as well as run-time
- * {@linkplain #loadContextForAotRuntime AOT execution} for an integration test
- * managed by the Spring TestContext Framework.
+ * {@linkplain #loadContextForAotProcessing(MergedContextConfiguration, RuntimeHints)
+ * AOT processing} as well as run-time {@linkplain #loadContextForAotRuntime
+ * AOT execution} for an integration test managed by the Spring TestContext Framework.
  *
  * <p>{@code AotContextLoader} is an extension of the {@link SmartContextLoader}
  * SPI that allows a context loader to optionally provide ahead-of-time (AOT)
@@ -69,10 +70,38 @@ public interface AotContextLoader extends SmartContextLoader {
 	 * application context
 	 * @return a new {@code GenericApplicationContext}
 	 * @throws ContextLoadException if context loading failed
+	 * @see #loadContextForAotProcessing(MergedContextConfiguration, RuntimeHints)
 	 * @see #loadContextForAotRuntime(MergedContextConfiguration, ApplicationContextInitializer)
 	 */
 	ApplicationContext loadContextForAotProcessing(MergedContextConfiguration mergedConfig) throws Exception;
 
+	/**
+	 * Load a new {@link ApplicationContext} for AOT build-time processing based
+	 * on the supplied {@link MergedContextConfiguration}, configure the context,
+	 * and return the context.
+	 * <p>This variant of {@code loadContextForAotProcessing(...)} accepts a
+	 * {@link RuntimeHints} argument. See the documentation for
+	 * {@link #loadContextForAotProcessing(MergedContextConfiguration)} for details
+	 * regarding the contract of this method.
+	 * <p>The default implementation of this method delegates to
+	 * {@code loadContextForAotProcessing(MergedContextConfiguration)}. Note,
+	 * however, that the framework only invokes this method as of Spring Framework
+	 * 6.2.4.
+	 * @param mergedConfig the merged context configuration to use to load the
+	 * application context
+	 * @param runtimeHints the runtime hints
+	 * @return a new {@code GenericApplicationContext}
+	 * @throws ContextLoadException if context loading failed
+	 * @see #loadContextForAotProcessing(MergedContextConfiguration)
+	 * @see #loadContextForAotRuntime(MergedContextConfiguration, ApplicationContextInitializer)
+	 * @since 6.2.4
+	 */
+	default ApplicationContext loadContextForAotProcessing(MergedContextConfiguration mergedConfig,
+			RuntimeHints runtimeHints) throws Exception {
+
+		return loadContextForAotProcessing(mergedConfig);
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Load a new {@link ApplicationContext} for AOT run-time execution based on
 	 * the supplied {@link MergedContextConfiguration} and

spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/aot/TestContextAotGenerator.java

@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ ClassName processAheadOfTime(MergedContextConfiguration mergedConfig,
 	 * create {@link GenericApplicationContext GenericApplicationContexts}.
 	 * @throws TestContextAotException if an error occurs while loading the application
 	 * context or if one of the prerequisites is not met
-	 * @see AotContextLoader#loadContextForAotProcessing(MergedContextConfiguration)
+	 * @see AotContextLoader#loadContextForAotProcessing(MergedContextConfiguration, RuntimeHints)
 	 */
 	private GenericApplicationContext loadContextForAotProcessing(
 			MergedContextConfiguration mergedConfig) throws TestContextAotException {
@@ -345,7 +345,7 @@ private GenericApplicationContext loadContextForAotProcessing(
 
 		if (contextLoader instanceof AotContextLoader aotContextLoader) {
 			try {
-				ApplicationContext context = aotContextLoader.loadContextForAotProcessing(mergedConfig);
+				ApplicationContext context = aotContextLoader.loadContextForAotProcessing(mergedConfig, this.runtimeHints);
 				if (context instanceof GenericApplicationContext gac) {
 					return gac;
 				}