FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.6.0_20"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_20-b02)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build 16.3-b01, mixed mode)

ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Linux thirtyseven 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem #1 SMP Tue Jun 1 05:38:08 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
Consider a case in which three files exist in the source tree: foo/Main.java, foo/Test.java, and bar/Test.java . Suppose foo/Main.java contains an import statement "import bar.*". Suppose also that foo/Main.java contains a reference to a type named "Test".

If foo/Test.java contains a top-level class declaration named "Test", the reference in Main means the type contained in foo/Test.java (JLS v3 S6.5.5, S7.5.2). Specifically, the import statement, because it is on-demand, has no impact on that reference. This is correct behavior.

However, it is possible for Test.java to contain no top-level type declarations (S7.3). If no such top-level type declaration appears and bar/Test.java contains a top-level type named "Test", the name "Test" refers to the type declared in bar/Test.java . In practice, however, compilation fails because the compiler expects to find a class foo.Test.

This bug was discovered while I was confirming my understanding of how the type namespace works in Java.

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
Create a new source directory (termed $src henceforth) and create subdirectories $src/example and $src/example2. Create a file $src/example/Main.java containing the following code:

    package example;

    import example2.*;

    public class Main
    {
        public static void main(String[] arg)
        {
            Test t = new Test();
            System.out.println(t.getClass());
        }
    }

Create a file $src/example/Test.java containing the following code:

    package example;
    //public class Test {}

Create a file $src/example2/Test.java containing the following code:

    package example2;

    public class Test {}

Attempt to compile all three source files.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
The three source files should compile successfully. The output file example/Main.class should refer to the class contained in example2/Test.class.
ACTUAL -
Compilation fails; no binary output is produced.

ERROR MESSAGES/STACK TRACES THAT OCCUR :
./example/Main.java:9: cannot access example.Test
bad class file: ./example/Test.java
file does not contain class example.Test
Please remove or make sure it appears in the correct subdirectory of the classpath.
        Test t = new Test();
        ^
1 error


REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
Contents of example/Main.java:

    package example;

    import example2.*;

    public class Main
    {
        public static void main(String[] arg)
        {
            Test t = new Test();
            System.out.println(t.getClass());
        }
    }

Contents of example/Test.java:

    package example;
    //public class Test {}

Contents of example2/Test.java:

    package example2;

    public class Test {}
---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
No workaround is currently available short of deleting or moving the offending source file (example/Test.java). This is a bug because the source file meets the requirements, both syntactic and semantic, of the Java Language Specification.