[LUCENE-8146] Unit tests using StringHelper fail with ExceptionInInitializerError for maven surefire >= 2.18

• Type: Bug
• Status: Open
• Priority: Minor
• Resolution: Unresolved
• Affects Version/s: 7.2.1
• Lucene Fields: New, Patch Available
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Julien Massenet
• Created: 31/Jan/18 15:58
• Updated: 28/Aug/22 15:24

Description

This happens when multiple conditions are met:

• The client code is built with Maven
• To execute its unit tests, the client code relies on the maven-surefire-plugin, with a version greater than 2.17 (last working version)
• The client code uses the org.apache.lucene.util.StringHelper class (even transitively)
• The client is configured as with the standard Lucene maven build (i.e. it is possible to fix the test seed using the tests.seed property)

There was a change in Surefire's behavior starting with 2.18: when a property is empty, instead of not sending it to the test runner, it will be sent with an empty value.

This behavior can be observed with the attached sample project:

• mvn test: fails with a java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
• mvn test -Dtests.seed=123456: succeeds because the property is set to a real value
• mvn test -Dsurefire.version=2.17: succeeds because the surefire version is lower than 2.18

Attached is a patch (built against branch_7x) that centralizes accesses to the tests.seed system property; it also makes sure that if it is empty, it is treated as absent.

Issue Links

• is caused by: SUREFIRE-649 Might be impossible to have empty strings in systemPropertyVariables element