Check for java.lang.reflect.Type.equals usage.

[NightlyNexus]

Class.equals is safe, but Type.equals can be hazardous. Prefer Guava or other libraries' utilities for the equality check.

[sumitbhagwani]

Can you clarify how is it hazardous ? examples would help

[NightlyNexus]

Implementations of various Types that you get from the standard library (like when doing reflection) don't have equals implementations, if I recall correctly.

For example, for ParameterizedType, users typically need to implement a working equals themselves (or use existing libraries) to get the expected result:

ParameterizedType pa = (ParameterizedType) a;
ParameterizedType pb = (ParameterizedType) b;
Type[] aTypeArguments =
    pa instanceof ParameterizedTypeImpl
        ? ((ParameterizedTypeImpl) pa).typeArguments
        : pa.getActualTypeArguments();
Type[] bTypeArguments =
    pb instanceof ParameterizedTypeImpl
        ? ((ParameterizedTypeImpl) pb).typeArguments
        : pb.getActualTypeArguments();
return equals(pa.getOwnerType(), pb.getOwnerType())
    && pa.getRawType().equals(pb.getRawType())
    && Arrays.equals(aTypeArguments, bTypeArguments);

likewise for GenericArrayType, WildcardType, TypeVariable...