AnnotationsPropertySource can throw a NPE when `javax` meta-annotations are present

[yanavasileva]

Hello,

We are trying to adopt Spring Boot 2.1 (currently we are on 2.0.2) but we face issues.
Here is an example:

@RunWith(SpringRunner.class)
@SpringBootTest(classes = { TestApplication.class }, webEnvironment = WebEnvironment.NONE)
@Transactional
public class SampleIT {

  @Autowired
  private TestEntityRepository testEntityRepository;

  @Autowired
  private TransactionalTestService transactionalTestService;

  ...
}

Here is the stacktrace:

java.lang.NullPointerException: null
        at org.springframework.boot.test.autoconfigure.properties.AnnotationsPropertySource.collectProperties(AnnotationsPropertySource.java:73)
        at org.springframework.boot.test.autoconfigure.properties.AnnotationsPropertySource.collectProperties(AnnotationsPropertySource.java:79)
        at org.springframework.boot.test.autoconfigure.properties.AnnotationsPropertySource.getProperties(AnnotationsPropertySource.java:64)
        at org.springframework.boot.test.autoconfigure.properties.AnnotationsPropertySource.<init>(AnnotationsPropertySource.java:59)
        at org.springframework.boot.test.autoconfigure.properties.AnnotationsPropertySource.<init>(AnnotationsPropertySource.java:54)
        at org.springframework.boot.test.autoconfigure.properties.PropertyMappingContextCustomizerFactory.createContextCustomizer(PropertyMappingContextCustomizerFactory.java:37)
        at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractTestContextBootstrapper.getContextCustomizers(AbstractTestContextBootstrapper.java:404)
        at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractTestContextBootstrapper.buildMergedContextConfiguration(AbstractTestContextBootstrapper.java:376)
        at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractTestContextBootstrapper.buildDefaultMergedContextConfiguration(AbstractTestContextBootstrapper.java:312)
        at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractTestContextBootstrapper.buildMergedContextConfiguration(AbstractTestContextBootstrapper.java:265)
        at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractTestContextBootstrapper.buildTestContext(AbstractTestContextBootstrapper.java:108)
        at org.springframework.boot.test.context.SpringBootTestContextBootstrapper.buildTestContext(SpringBootTestContextBootstrapper.java:99)
        at org.springframework.test.context.TestContextManager.<init>(TestContextManager.java:139)
        at org.springframework.test.context.TestContextManager.<init>(TestContextManager.java:124)
        at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.createTestContextManager(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:151)
        at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.<init>(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:142)
        at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringRunner.<init>(SpringRunner.java:49)
        at sun.reflect.GeneratedConstructorAccessor56.newInstance(Unknown Source)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
        at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:423)
        at org.junit.internal.builders.AnnotatedBuilder.buildRunner(AnnotatedBuilder.java:104)
        at org.junit.internal.builders.AnnotatedBuilder.runnerForClass(AnnotatedBuilder.java:86)
        at org.junit.runners.model.RunnerBuilder.safeRunnerForClass(RunnerBuilder.java:59)
        at org.junit.internal.builders.AllDefaultPossibilitiesBuilder.runnerForClass(AllDefaultPossibilitiesBuilder.java:26)
        at org.junit.runners.model.RunnerBuilder.safeRunnerForClass(RunnerBuilder.java:59)
        at org.junit.internal.requests.ClassRequest.getRunner(ClassRequest.java:33)
        at org.apache.maven.surefire.junit4.JUnit4Provider.execute(JUnit4Provider.java:283)
        at org.apache.maven.surefire.junit4.JUnit4Provider.executeWithRerun(JUnit4Provider.java:173)
        at org.apache.maven.surefire.junit4.JUnit4Provider.executeTestSet(JUnit4Provider.java:153)
        at org.apache.maven.surefire.junit4.JUnit4Provider.invoke(JUnit4Provider.java:128)
        at org.apache.maven.surefire.booter.ForkedBooter.invokeProviderInSameClassLoader(ForkedBooter.java:203)
        at org.apache.maven.surefire.booter.ForkedBooter.runSuitesInProcess(ForkedBooter.java:155)
        at org.apache.maven.surefire.booter.ForkedBooter.main(ForkedBooter.java:103)

The problem occurs during because mergedAnnotations return [null] for the Transactional annotation.
Have you seen similar problem before? Do you need more input?

Best regards,
Yana

[wilkinsona]

Thanks for the report. I'm struggling to see how a null can end up in the list that's returned by getMergedAnnotations() and my attempts to reproduce the problem have been unsuccessful. Protecting against null in AnnotationsPropertySource may be addressing a symptom of the problem rather than the cause so I'd like to understand what's causing the problem in your situation. Can you please provide a complete, minimal example (something that we can unzip or git clone and run) that reproduces the problem?

[yanavasileva]

Hi,

Thank you for your fast reply.
I created an example here:
https://github.com/yanavasileva/spring-boot-test
just run mvn install

Thanks,
Yana

[philwebb]

I think the root cause of the null is a Spring Framework issue (see SPR-17495 for a description). We should probably also guard against a null result when building the mergedAnnotations list regardless.