FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.6.0_20"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_20-b02)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 16.3-b01, mixed mode)


ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Linux pinguin 2.6.32-21-generic #32-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 16 08:09:38 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

EXTRA RELEVANT SYSTEM CONFIGURATION :
This bug is neither OS specific, nor java 1.6 specific, it can be reproduced on 1.5, 1.6 and 1.7

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
Initially reported against ecj (Eclipse compiler for Java):
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=325157

It seems that javac has a bug and so rejects to compile valid java code.

AS IS:
The code below doesn't compile with javac (error is reported), but compiles with ecj.

TO BE:
in the example below javac should not produce any compiler error.

  Evaluation of the problem (taken from comment 1 of the bug above):

The javac compiler seems to exhibit some interesting behavior:

case (1) (same case as comment#0, but in one file)
--------

public class ConcreteClass
    extends AClass
{
    private static String getText(String arg) {
        return arg;
    }
    static class StaticClass
            extends ConcreteClass
    {
        public String getAbbreviatedText(int endIndex){
            return getText("").substring(0, endIndex);
        }
    }
}

class AClass {
    public String getText() {
        return "";
    }
}

JDK5,6,7 refuse to compile this.

=> This seems to be a bug in javac. Examples below demonstrate other valid cases which are compilable with both javac and ecj.

case (2)
--------


public class ConcreteClass
// extends AClass // extends commented out.
{
    private static String getText(String arg) {
        return arg;
    }
    static class StaticClass
            extends ConcreteClass
    {
        public String getAbbreviatedText(int endIndex){
            return getText("").substring(0, endIndex);
        }
    }
}

class AClass {
    public String getText() {
        return "";
    }
}

JDK5,6,7 compile this OK.

case (3)
--------

public class ConcreteClass
    extends AClass
{
    private static String getText(String arg) {
        return arg;
    }
    static class StaticClass
// extends ConcreteClass // extends commented out
    {
        public String getAbbreviatedText(int endIndex){
            return getText("").substring(0, endIndex);
        }
    }
}

class AClass {
    public String getText() {
        return "";
    }
}

JDK5,6,7, compile this OK.

case (4)
--------

// AClass is totally out of the picture
public class ConcreteClass
{
    private static String getText(String arg) {
        return arg;
    }
    static class StaticClass
            extends ConcreteClass
    {
        public String getAbbreviatedText(int endIndex){
            return getText("").substring(0, endIndex);
        }
    }
}


JDK5,6,7 compile this OK.

case (5)
--------

// private method changed to public.
public class ConcreteClass extends AClass {
    public String getText(String arg) { // Note private changed to public
        return arg;
    }
    class StaticClass extends ConcreteClass {
        public String getAbbreviatedText(int endIndex){
            return getText("").substring(0, endIndex);
        }
    }
}

class AClass {
    public String getText() {
        return "";
    }
}

compiles OK with JDK5,6,7.

In summary, the method is accessible and applicable, so I don't see
why the code should be rejected at all.


EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
Code compiles without compiler errors.
ACTUAL -
Compiler error is reported.

ERROR MESSAGES/STACK TRACES THAT OCCUR :
ConcreteClass.java:9: getText() in AClass cannot be applied
to(java.lang.String)

REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
public class ConcreteClass
    extends AClass
{
    private static String getText(String arg) {
        return arg;
    }
    static class StaticClass
            extends ConcreteClass
    {
        public String getAbbreviatedText(int endIndex){
            return getText("").substring(0, endIndex);
        }
    }
}

class AClass {
    public String getText() {
        return "";
    }
}
---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
There is no workaround except to rewrite the (valid) Java code.