Name: jn10789 Date: 03/11/99


[Since (after repeated emails) my previous report of this
bug has disappeared without trace I am resubmitting it]

This is a report against JRE 1.2:
Classic VM (build JDK-1.2-V, native threads).

The Default Policy Implementation and Policy File Syntax
(October 30th 1998) shows how properties can be expanded
within policy files. It provides an example of the form

permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "${foo}";

and states that, if foo is not defined when the policy file
is parsed, the permission will be ignored. This works as
claimed. However, if the permission takes arguments such as

permission java.io.FilePermission "${foo}", "read";

and foo is not defined it results in a syntax error during
parsing of the form:

java.security.policy: error parsing file:my.policy
java.security.policy: line 104: expected ';', found ','

The subsequent permission clauses within the policy file
are ignored leading to a substantial failure due to lack
of permissions.

The correct behaviour should be to silently ignore the
entire permission as the documentation claims and continue
parsing.
(Review ID: 54778)
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