Misleading compiler.err.cant.apply.symbol.1 when base class constructor is inaccessible

[Maurizio Cimadamore]

Done

https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8191896

Maurizio


On 25/11/17 03:31, Daniel Trebbien wrote:
> Should an issue be created for this in the JDK Bug System? I don't 
> have the ability to do this myself.
>
> On Fri, Nov 24, 2017 at 1:28 PM, Maurizio Cimadamore 
> <maurizio.cimadamore at oracle.com 
> <mailto:maurizio.cimadamore at oracle.com>> wrote:
>
>     You are right - this is a long standing behavior - in javac the
>     accessibility check is done very late, typically after checking
>     for applicability; on the other hand, the JLS rules out candidates
>     very early in the overload resolution process, so in this case the
>     JLS would say there's no constructor. I believe the spirit of the
>     implemented logic was to provide more information to the user,
>     rather than just say 'cannot find symbol', but I agree with you
>     that, while this normally works ok, in this specific case the
>     error message ends up being misleading.
>
>     Thanks
>     Maurizio
>
>
>     On 24/11/17 20:10, Daniel Trebbien wrote:
>>     As reported here
>>     https://netbeans.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=222487#c2
>>     <https://netbeans.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=222487#c2>
>>     javac can produce a misleading
>>     compiler.err.cant.apply.symbol.1 error message in cases where the
>>     base class constructor is inaccessible, either because it is
>>     private or package-private.
>>
>>     Take the following two files:
>>
>>     // base/Base.java
>>     package base;
>>     public class Base {
>>     Base(String value) { }
>>     }
>>
>>     // Derived.java
>>     import base.Base;
>>     public class Derived extends Base { }
>>
>>     javac 9.0.1 produces the following:
>>
>>     src/Derived.java:2: error: constructor Base in class Base cannot
>>     be applied to given types;
>>
>>     public class Derived extends Base { }
>>
>>            ^
>>
>>       required: String
>>
>>       found: no arguments
>>
>>       reason: actual and formal argument lists differ in length
>>
>>
>>     This is misleading because it implies that by adding a Derived
>>     constructor to call Base(String), that the error can be fixed;
>>     however, doing so results in a compiler.err.report.access error
>>     because the Base(String) constructor is not accessible:
>>
>>     src/Derived.java:4: error: Base(String) is not public in Base;
>>     cannot be accessed from outside package
>>
>>             super(value);
>>
>>             ^
>>
>>
>
>

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