[GROOVY-8819] java.lang.VerifyError when calling this() with static final field from a super class

• Type: Bug
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Minor
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: 2.4.x, 2.5.2
• Fix Version/s: 3.0.0-alpha-4, 2.5.3
• Component/s: Compiler
• Assignee: Daniel Sun
• Reporter: Keith Suderman
• Created: 30/Sep/18 17:03
• Updated: 13/Jul/19 18:54
• Resolved: 07/Oct/18 12:25

Description

If a constructor attempts to call this(X), where X is a static final field defined in a super class a java.lang.VerifyError is thrown at runtime . This only occurs if X is not qualified with the super class name.

Parent.java

class Parent { 
	static final String DEFAULT = 'default' 
}

Child.java

class Child extends Parent {
	String value
	Child() { this(DEFAULT) }  // <-- here
	Child(String value) { this.value = value }
}

java.lang.VerifyError

 Caught: java.lang.VerifyError: Bad type on operand stack
 Exception Details:
 Location:
 Child.<init>()V @10: invokeinterface
 Reason:
 Type uninitializedThis (current frame, stack[2]) is not assignable to 'java/lang/Object'
 Current Frame:
 bci: @10
 flags: \{ flagThisUninit }
 locals: \{ uninitializedThis, '[Lorg/codehaus/groovy/runtime/callsite/CallSite;' }
 stack: \{ uninitializedThis, 'org/codehaus/groovy/runtime/callsite/CallSite', uninitializedThis }
 Bytecode:
 0x0000000: b800 114c 2a2b 1212 322a b900 1802 00b8
 0x0000010: 001e c000 20b7 0023 b1 

Workaround

Simply ensure that references to static final fields from the super class are qualified with the super class name.

Child.java

class Child extends Parent {
	String value
	Child() { this(Parent.DEFAULT) }  // ok
	Child(String value) { this.value = value }
}

Issue Links

• links to: GitHub Pull Request #807
• links to: GitHub Pull Request #964