NOTE
Netty Channel Type Hierarchy
Conceptual Channel hierarchy across transport-independent API, abstract channel support, and concrete NIO/native transports.
This is a historical learning note and may contain outdated or incomplete understanding.
Channel is the transport-independent endpoint API. Internal abstract channel classes share lifecycle, pipeline, future, configuration, and unsafe/transport operations; concrete implementations connect those abstractions to Java NIO or native transports.
Do not learn Netty by memorizing one release’s inheritance tree. Focus on responsibilities: public channel API, event-loop ownership, pipeline, channel configuration, and transport-specific read/write/register implementations.
Regenerate a class diagram from the exact source tag when class-level details matter.