RFR: JDK-8320005 : Allow loading of shared objects with .a extension on AIX [v13]

[Martin Doerr]

On Thu, 1 Feb 2024 04:13:52 GMT, Martin Doerr <mdoerr at openjdk.org> wrote:

>> I didn't follow that. You mean i need to keep a check if it is null and print it out ?
>
> An assertion is only used for debug builds. Such an error should be handled in product builds as well. I think an attempt to load an invalid library should simply fail. You may add logging if needed.
> @tstuefe: Do you agree or have another proposal to handle such errors?

In addition, the nullptr check is important to avoid undefined behavior when passing `pointer_to_dot` to any string function.

-------------

PR Review Comment: https://git.openjdk.org/jdk/pull/16604#discussion_r1473774551