jakartaee / jakartaee/servlet

Differences in calling WriteListener.onError

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Dominant language
Java
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Description

If an async servlet is in a loop like:
```java
ServletOutputStream out = response.getOutputStream();
out.setWriteListener(new WriteListener()
{
public void onWritePossible()
{
try
{
while (out.isReady())
out.write(someBuffer);
}
catch(Throwable t)
{
t.printStackTrace();
}
}

public void onError(Throwable t)
{
t.printStackTrace();
}
});
```

and the client receiving the response closes the connection at some point, then we see different behaviors from Jetty, Tomcat and Undertow:

- Jetty throws from write and calls onError with a different exception. If `isReady()` is called it returns true.
- Tomcat throws from write and calls onError with the cause of the original exception. If `isReady()` is called it returns false.
- Undertow throws from the write, but never calls onError. If `isReady()` is called it return false, but then `onError` is still not called.

I'm not sure any of these behaviors is strictly correct:
+ should onError be called for an exception that has already been thrown to the application?
+ should onError every be called if `isReady()` has not been called and has not returned false?
+ should the write every actually throw? instead should `isReady()` return false and then `onError` is called with the problem?
+ if the write has thrown, what should `isReady()` return?

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by comparing the reported WriteListener behavior across onWritePossible, onError, isReady, and write when the client disconnects. Done means resolving the competing behaviors into a clear, consistent API contract and documenting which callback, return value, and exception behavior is expected.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java
Domain
api
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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