[GROOVY-8737] STC Method resolution fails if other methods with more parameters exist

• Type: Bug
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: 2.4.15, 3.0.0-alpha-3, 2.5.1
• Fix Version/s: 4.0.5, 2.5.19, 3.0.13
• Component/s: Static compilation, Static Type Checker
• Labels: varargs
• Assignee: Eric Milles
• Reporter: Patric Bechtel
• Created: 09/Aug/18 10:20
• Updated: 10/Feb/23 21:40
• Resolved: 23/Aug/22 15:59

Description

Given two classes as follows

@groovy.transform.CompileStatic
class A {
   public static String msg( String key, Object[] args ) { "key=$key, args=$args" }
   public static String msg( String key, Object[] args, Object[] parts ) { "key=$key, args=$args, parts=$parts" }
   public static String msg( String key, Object[] args, String[] names ) { "key=$key, args=$args, names=$names" }
}

and

@groovy.transform.CompileStatic
public class B {
   public static void main( String[] args ) {
      println A.msg( 'hello', [ 'world' ] as Object[] )
   }
}

will not compile with the error

B.groovy: 4: [Static type checking] - Reference to method is ambiguous. Cannot choose between [java.lang.String A#msg(java.lang.String, java.lang.Object[], java.lang.Object[]), java.lang.String A#msg(java.lang.String, java.lang.Object[], java.lang.String[])]
 @ line 4, column 15.
         println A.msg( 'hello', [ 'world' ] as Object[] )

Though there's a perfect match for the called method, it tries to choose one of the longer signatures.