FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
$ java -version
java version "1.6.0_05"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_05-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 10.0-b19, mixed mode, sharing)


ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
If a buffered image is created and then written to a GIF WITHOUT drawing
anything into it, a null pointer exception is thrown in PalletteBuilder.

This does not occur in Java 1.7 build 24.


STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
javac -Xlint:all test.java
java test 1

Note the argument.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
No output.
ACTUAL -
Error traceback for NullPointerException.


ERROR MESSAGES/STACK TRACES THAT OCCUR :
java test 1
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
        at com.sun.imageio.plugins.common.PaletteBuilder.findPaletteEntry(PaletteBuilder.java:310)
        at com.sun.imageio.plugins.common.PaletteBuilder.getIndexColorModel(PaletteBuilder.java:296)
        at com.sun.imageio.plugins.common.PaletteBuilder.getIndexedImage(PaletteBuilder.java:145)
        at com.sun.imageio.plugins.common.PaletteBuilder.createIndexedImage(PaletteBuilder.java:77)
        at com.sun.imageio.plugins.gif.GIFImageWriter.write(GIFImageWriter.java:564)
        at com.sun.imageio.plugins.gif.GIFImageWriter.write(GIFImageWriter.java:492)
        at javax.imageio.ImageWriter.write(ImageWriter.java:598)
        at javax.imageio.ImageIO.write(ImageIO.java:1479)
        at javax.imageio.ImageIO.write(ImageIO.java:1521)
        at test.main(test.java:25)


REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;


public class test extends Object
{
    public static void main(final String[] args) throws Exception
    {
        final BufferedImage bufferedImage =
                                new BufferedImage(1000,
                                                  1000,
                                                  BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB);
        if (args.length < 1)
        {
            final Graphics2D graphics = bufferedImage.createGraphics();

            final BufferedImage icon = ImageIO.read(new File("icon.gif"));

            graphics.drawImage(icon, 100, 100, null);
        }

        if (! ImageIO.write(bufferedImage, "GIF", new File("output.gif")))
        {
            throw new IOException();
        }
    }
}

---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
Use Java 1.7.