[LOG4J2-3448] Add nullability-related annotations for better documentation and static analysis

• Type: Improvement
• Status: Resolved
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Duplicate
• Component/s: API
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Matt Sicker
• Created: 25/Mar/22 22:17
• Updated: 13/May/22 20:29
• Resolved: 13/May/22 20:29

Description

Nullability annotations can be used by static analysis tools, IDEs, and even Kotlin, to better check for potential NullPointerException errors or redundant null checks. To avoid introducing an additional dependency here, these annotations can be defined in the API. At minimum, some form of @Nonnull and @Nullable should be added.

Alternatively, as these are compile-time annotations anyways, it may be possible to use a third-party annotation library here as long as it's also compile-time only.

Issue Links

• duplicates: LOG4J2-1477 @NonNull support (for @NonNullByDefault or similar)