Concern about Java 7u40 timeline

[Sam Reid]

Here is a test case to demonstrate the problem.  I am not 100% sure 
whether it is the same as JDK-8017174, but here are the steps to 
reproduce the problem and the resulting exception:

1. Write and save TestMain.java (source below), which essentially just 
calls "Logger.getAnonymousLogger();"
2. Write and save test-logger.jnlp (source below), changing the path in 
codebase="file:///????? to match your machine path

javac TestMain.java
jar -cf myfile.jar *.class
javaws test-logger.jnlp

On my OSX 10.8.4 machine running 1.7.0_25 (build 15), this produces:
Application Error: Unable to launch the application
java.lang.NullPointerException
     at java.util.logging.Logger.doSetParent(Logger.java:1593)
     at java.util.logging.Logger.getAnonymousLogger(Logger.java:534)
     at java.util.logging.Logger.getAnonymousLogger(Logger.java:495)
     at TestMain.main(TestMain.java:6)
(full trace below)

There is an odd issue about the problem that I would like to describe 
here.  I can easily reproduce this problem on Mac OSX 10.8.4.  Last week 
I was also able to reproduce the problem on Windows 8 (also running Java 
1.7.0_25), but that OS became corrupted and had to be reinstalled.  
After reinstalling Windows 8 and Java version 1.7.0_25 on that machine, 
it no longer has the same exception.  I am not sure what caused it to 
fail before and work now--I did not record the "build number" on the 
prior Windows failures, but now I am using build 1.7.0_25-b17 and cannot 
produce the problem on Windows.  So this problem may be specific to OSX 
and to specific builds (or other unknown configuration) for Windows.

After writing this up, I wasn't sure whether it was the same as 
JDK-8017174 or any of the duplicate bug reports, but perhaps they all 
have the same root cause.  I have not yet tested the java7u40 
development builds on my OSX machine.  Looking forward to hearing from you!

Best Regards,
Sam Reid
PhET Interactive Simulations
University of Colorado Boulder

##########################
#  TestMain.java
############

import java.util.logging.Logger;

public class TestMain {
     public static void main(String[] args) {
         System.out.println("Running test for logger exception");
         Logger logger = Logger.getAnonymousLogger();
         System.out.println("logger = " + logger);
     }
}

##########################
#  test-logger.jnlp
############

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<jnlp spec="1.0+" codebase="file:///?????" href="test-logger.jnlp">

     <information>

         <title>Test Logger Problem</title>

         <vendor>University of Colorado Boulder</vendor>

         <description>Test for logger problem</description>

     </information>

     <resources>

         <jar href="myfile.jar"/>

     </resources>
     <application-desc main-class="TestMain">
     </application-desc>

</jnlp>

##################
# Full stack trace
##########
java.lang.NullPointerException
     at java.util.logging.Logger.doSetParent(Logger.java:1593)
     at java.util.logging.Logger.getAnonymousLogger(Logger.java:534)
     at java.util.logging.Logger.getAnonymousLogger(Logger.java:495)
     at TestMain.main(TestMain.java:6)
     at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
     at 
sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
     at 
sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:606)
     at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.executeApplication(Unknown Source)
     at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.executeMainClass(Unknown Source)
     at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.doLaunchApp(Unknown Source)
     at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.run(Unknown Source)
     at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:724)

On 8/2/2013 4:40 PM, Alan Bateman wrote:
> On 02/08/2013 10:09, Sam Reid wrote:
>> One more thing, JDK-8017174 is still not listed in the j7u40 features
>> & changes [2] even for build 35 so I am still a bit confused about that.
> Can you send a test case to demonstrate the NPE that you are seeing in
> logging? (to help understand if this is the same issue or something else).
>
> -Alan.