Run Checker Framework with Bazel

Question

Consider this github repository. https://github.com/dfabulich/bazel-checker-framework-bug

It includes a sample X.java file that flagrantly violates the rules of the @Nonnull annotation.

import javax.annotation.Nonnull;
public class X {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new X().exec();
    }

    public void exec() {
        System.out.println(this.method());
    }

    @Nonnull
    private String method() {
        return null;
    }
}

The WORKSPACE file just includes checker.jar.

maven_jar(
    name="checker",
    artifact="org.checkerframework:checker:2.3.1"
)

The BUILD file invokes the compiler with the checker framework configured as a java_plugin.

java_library(
    name='x',
    srcs=['X.java'],
    deps=['@checker//jar'],
    plugins=['checker'],
)

java_plugin(
    name='checker',
    deps=['@checker//jar'],
    processor_class='org.checkerframework.checker.nullness.NullnessChecker',
)

When I bazel build x, the build fails with this error:

error: InvocationTargetException when invoking constructor for class org.checkerframework.checker.nullness.KeyForAnnotatedTypeFactory; Underlying cause: java.lang.StackOverflowError; The Checker Framework crashed. Please report the crash. To see the full stack trace invoke the compiler with -AprintErrorStack

When I comment out the plugins line in the BUILD file, the build succeeds without error. (That makes sense, but I ultimately want the Checker Framework to fail this build with a return.type.incompatible error.)

Am I making a mistake here? Is this a bug in Bazel?

Answer 1

I got a good answer on the bazel-discuss mailing list, telling me to try NullAway, an Error Prone plugin that depends on the Checker Framework.

The github repo now includes a working example using NullAway, like this.

WORKSPACE:

maven_jar(
    name='jsr305',
    artifact='com.google.code.findbugs:jsr305:3.0.2',
)

maven_jar(
    name="nullaway",
    artifact="com.uber.nullaway:nullaway:0.3.2"
)

maven_jar(
    name="guava",
    artifact="com.google.guava:guava:22.0",
)

BUILD:

java_library(
    name='x',
    srcs=['X.java'],
    deps=['@jsr305//jar'],
    plugins=['nullaway'],
    javacopts=[
        '-Xep:NullAway:ERROR',
        '-XepOpt:NullAway:AnnotatedPackages=com.example',
    ],
)

java_plugin(
    name='nullaway',
    deps=[
        '@nullaway//jar',
        '@guava//jar',
    ],
)

(The dependency on guava is unfortunate; it's required because without Guava, NullAway refuses to load.)