Grails 3.0.1 - save() causes NullPointerException under a certain JDK version when there is a validation error

[nobeans]

Reproducible example: https://github.com/nobeans/grails-report-grails301-domain-save-npe

In my environment (Mac OS X 10.10.3), when running the BookSpec:

• Java 8u45: PASSED
• Java 7u80: FAILED with NPE like this.

java.lang.NullPointerException
    at org.hibernate.engine.spi.BatchFetchQueue.removeBatchLoadableEntityKey(BatchFetchQueue.java:163)
    at org.hibernate.engine.internal.StatefulPersistenceContext.addEntity(StatefulPersistenceContext.java:388)
    at org.hibernate.engine.internal.StatefulPersistenceContext.addEntity(StatefulPersistenceContext.java:461)
    at org.hibernate.action.internal.AbstractEntityInsertAction.makeEntityManaged(AbstractEntityInsertAction.java:143)
    at org.hibernate.engine.spi.ActionQueue.addResolvedEntityInsertAction(ActionQueue.java:203)
    at org.hibernate.engine.spi.ActionQueue.addInsertAction(ActionQueue.java:181)
    at org.hibernate.engine.spi.ActionQueue.addAction(ActionQueue.java:216)
    at org.hibernate.event.internal.AbstractSaveEventListener.addInsertAction(AbstractSaveEventListener.java:324)
    at org.hibernate.event.internal.AbstractSaveEventListener.performSaveOrReplicate(AbstractSaveEventListener.java:288)
    at org.hibernate.event.internal.AbstractSaveEventListener.performSave(AbstractSaveEventListener.java:194)
    at org.hibernate.event.internal.AbstractSaveEventListener.saveWithGeneratedId(AbstractSaveEventListener.java:125)
    at org.hibernate.event.internal.DefaultSaveOrUpdateEventListener.saveWithGeneratedOrRequestedId(DefaultSaveOrUpdateEventListener.java:209)
    at org.hibernate.event.internal.DefaultSaveOrUpdateEventListener.entityIsTransient(DefaultSaveOrUpdateEventListener.java:194)
    at org.hibernate.event.internal.DefaultSaveOrUpdateEventListener.performSaveOrUpdate(DefaultSaveOrUpdateEventListener.java:114)
    at org.hibernate.event.internal.DefaultSaveOrUpdateEventListener.onSaveOrUpdate(DefaultSaveOrUpdateEventListener.java:90)
    at org.hibernate.internal.SessionImpl.fireSaveOrUpdate(SessionImpl.java:684)
    at org.hibernate.internal.SessionImpl.saveOrUpdate(SessionImpl.java:676)
    at org.hibernate.internal.SessionImpl.saveOrUpdate(SessionImpl.java:671)
    at org.grails.orm.hibernate.AbstractHibernateGormInstanceApi.performSave_closure3(AbstractHibernateGormInstanceApi.groovy:254)
    at groovy.lang.Closure.call(Closure.java:423)
    at org.grails.orm.hibernate.GrailsHibernateTemplate.doExecute(GrailsHibernateTemplate.java:198)
    at org.grails.orm.hibernate.GrailsHibernateTemplate.execute(GrailsHibernateTemplate.java:142)
    at org.grails.orm.hibernate.GrailsHibernateTemplate.execute(GrailsHibernateTemplate.java:112)
    at org.grails.orm.hibernate.AbstractHibernateGormInstanceApi.performSave(AbstractHibernateGormInstanceApi.groovy:253)
    at org.grails.orm.hibernate.AbstractHibernateGormInstanceApi.save(AbstractHibernateGormInstanceApi.groovy:179)
    at org.grails.datastore.gorm.GormInstanceApi.save(GormInstanceApi.groovy:101)
    at org.grails.datastore.gorm.GormEntity$Trait$Helper.save(GormEntity.groovy:112)
    at grails301.domain.save.npe.BookSpecSpec.$tt__$spock_feature_0_1(BookSpecSpec.groovy:28)
    at grails301.domain.save.npe.BookSpecSpec.It works well if there is a validate error: maxSize_closure2(BookSpecSpec.groovy)
    at groovy.lang.Closure.call(Closure.java:423)
    at groovy.lang.Closure.call(Closure.java:439)
    at grails.transaction.GrailsTransactionTemplate$1.doInTransaction(GrailsTransactionTemplate.groovy:67)
    at org.springframework.transaction.support.TransactionTemplate.execute(TransactionTemplate.java:133)
    at grails.transaction.GrailsTransactionTemplate.executeAndRollback(GrailsTransactionTemplate.groovy:64)
    at grails301.domain.save.npe.BookSpecSpec.It works well if there is a validate error: maxSize(BookSpecSpec.groovy)

It depends on JVM version (and/or more something environmental).

When I tried to show DEBUG log of org.grails.spring.beans.factory.OptimizedAutowireCapableBeanFactory for analysis, I realized that the order of initializing beans was different between in Java 7 and 8.

• https://github.com/nobeans/grails-report-grails301-domain-save-npe/blob/master/app-log.txt-java7u80
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nobeans/grails-report-grails301-domain-save-npe/master/app-log.txt-java8u45

And when the NPE occurred, org.grails.gorm.hibernate.internal.POST_INIT_BEAN-DEFAULT bean was initialized before the domain class' validator bean. I think it has to be initialized after all user's domain validator beans. Does it have to do with this issue?

[donalmurtagh]

I've run into this problem in Grails 2.5.0. There are several other people reporting this issue:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/28002764/nullpointerexception-error-in-grails
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26935277/grails-nullpointerexception-saving-bi-directional-one-to-many-relationship-model

[donalmurtagh]

@graemerocher it looks like this won't be backported to 2.5.X, is that right?

[graemerocher]

Correct

[brianjohnsen]

@donalmurtagh, @graemerocher is there any workaround for the 2.5-line?