typetools / typetools/checker-framework

Collection.removeAll and retainAll can throw NullPointerException even if annotated conservatively

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False Negative (missing warning or unsoundness)
Dominant language
Java
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Description

From their docs (emphasis mine):

Throws:
...
NullPointerException - if this collection contains one or more null elements and the specified collection does not support null elements (optional), or if the specified collection is null

That means that it's often safe to call removeAll and retainAll only if:

  • the receiver collection has a non-null element type (currently not expressible; see #3203 ), or
  • if the argument collection supports calls to contains(null) (which seems harder to express, short of permitting calls to removeAll and retainAll only if the argument itself has a null element type)

Putting those together, maybe what we actually want is something like the following...?

<E extends @PolyNull Object> boolean removeAll(Collection<@PolyNull ? extends Object> c);

If I'm understanding right, that may still be more conservative than we'd like (since it ought to be safe to pass, e.g., an ArrayList<@NonNull String>, which supports null queries even though it doesn't contain nulls), but it may be an improvement.

Here's a way to get NPE with the current signatures:

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.TreeSet;
import org.checkerframework.checker.nullness.qual.Nullable;

public class QueryNull {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    List<@Nullable String> c = new ArrayList<@Nullable String>();
    c.add(null);
    Set<String> toRemove = new TreeSet<String>();
    c.removeAll(toRemove);
  }
}

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the QueryNull example and reading the Java Collection.removeAll and retainAll contracts, then inspect the current signatures in relation to issue #3203. Done means the annotations model the documented null behavior without permitting the shown unsafe call, with tests covering the revised signatures.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
38/100

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