8025690: Default FileHandler constructor doesn't throw NullPointerException if pattern is empty and count > 1

[Daniel Fuchs]

Hi Lance,

Thanks for the comments!

On 9/30/14 9:09 PM, Lance Andersen wrote:
> Hi Daniel,
>
> Shouldn't the other constructors indicate that an NPE will occur 
> similar to the default constructor if the pattern is null?

I assume that for the other constructors the NPE falls in the category
"parameters should not be null unless otherwise specified" which is
the usual rule for java.util.logging.
The only difference is that the default constructor reads the value
of 'pattern' from the configuration, whereas the other constructor get
the value supplied by the caller,

So I am more curious about why the default constructor is not specified to
throw IllegalArgumentException if the pattern is empty - as all the other
constructor do... Possibly it's because the original author thought
that NPE would always be throw by openFile() if the pattern was empty.

In this case I believe it's better to make the implementation
conform to the spec - even if the spec looks odd - rather than trying
to change the spec.

> Just curious why you chose to put the check into openFiles() if the 
> issue is just with the default constructor?
It was not possible to do the check in configure() since all the 
constructors
call configure - but only the default constructor use the actual value
set by configure() - the other constructors simply reset the value of
'pattern' after configure() has been called, thus overriding the default
value read by the configuration.

I could have placed the check in the default constructor between
the call to configure() and the call to openFiles() - but I thought
it was better to put it in openFiles() - since the spirit of the spec
seems to be that pattern should be neither null nor empty
when openFiles() is called.

best regards,

-- daniel
>
> Best,
> Lance
> On Sep 30, 2014, at 10:04 AM, Daniel Fuchs <daniel.fuchs at oracle.com 
> <mailto:daniel.fuchs at oracle.com>> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Please find below a fix for
>>
>> 8025690: Default FileHandler constructor doesn't
>>         throw NullPointerException if pattern is empty and count > 1
>> https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8025690
>>
>> The default constructor of FileHandler is specified to throw
>> a NullPointerException if the pattern property string is an
>> empty string.
>> (see 
>> <http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/logging/FileHandler.html#FileHandler-->) 
>>
>> However it strangely does so only when count=1
>>
>> The fix adds an additional check in openFiles() to verify that
>> the pattern is not empty. At this point the other constructors
>> (which take a pattern as parameter) will already have thrown an
>> IAE if the pattern was empty (or an NPE if it was null).
>>
>> http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~dfuchs/webrev_8025690/webrev.00
>>
>> best regards,
>>
>> -- daniel
>
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