[infinispan-dev] Hash calculation in DefaultConsistentHash

I took a look at the implementation of DefaultConsistentHash and I was wondering: does the key hash value have to be positive? As in: int hash = Math.abs(key.hashCode()); I can see that the resulting hash is used to pull a tail map of the hash space, but there's no reason the SortedMap key has to be positive. I'm actually most concerned about the fact that Math.abs(Integer.MIN_VALUE) == Integer.MIN_VALUE so you have at least one negative key anyway :) -KS