Description Stephan Herrmann 2016-08-07 09:05:18 EDT

Observable in a workspace with the examples from NullTypeAnnotationTest.testBug497698():

//---
package test;

import org.eclipse.jdt.annotation.NonNullByDefault;

@NonNullByDefault
public class And {
	public static void createAnd() {
		Or.create();
	}
}
//---
package test;

import org.eclipse.jdt.annotation.NonNullByDefault;

@NonNullByDefault
public class Or<D, V> {
	public static <V> Or<V> create() {
		return new Or<V, V>(); 
	}
}
//---


1. Full build:
  -> 1 Error against return type of Or.create() => OK
2. Edit and save Or.java
  -> Additional Error appears against And.java:
   "The method create() is undefined for the type Or"

If resolveTypesFor() is triggered by methods() (2) we recognize the return problem and drop this method from STB#methods.

If, OTOH, resolveTypesFor() is first triggered by getMethods(char[]) (1), we call methods() in a state where the type reference is already resolved (to the unparameterized STB), thus hiding the return problem -> we keep the method and no error is reported at the call site.

To demonstrate that this is not an issue of compiler vs. reconciler simply batch-compile both classes 

1.
ecj -classpath path-to-o.e.j.annotation.jar test/And.java test/Or.java
-> 1 error

2.
ecj -classpath path-to-o.e.j.annotation.jar test/Or.java test/And.java
-> 2 errors