FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.6.0_29"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_29-b11)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build 20.4-b02, mixed mode)


ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Linux r70 2.6.37.6-0.9-desktop #1 SMP PREEMPT 2011-10-19 22:33:27 +0200 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux


A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
According to the java.io.PrintWriter documentation after the setError() method is called the checkError() method should return "true". It does not work so starting with JRE 1.6.

Here is a simple test (TestPrintWriter.java) that illustrates the problem.

import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.io.OutputStream;

public class TestPrintWriter {

  static class MyPrintWriter extends PrintWriter {
       public MyPrintWriter(OutputStream out) {
           super(out);
       }

       public void myMethod() {
           setError();
       }
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
       MyPrintWriter pw = new MyPrintWriter(System.out);
       pw.myMethod(); // myMethod sets an error
       if (pw.checkError())
           System.out.println("Test passed");
       else
           System.out.println("Test failed");
   }
}

Here are results of running the test with Java 1.5 and 1.6

/u01/osv > /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0/bin/java -cp . TestPrintWriter
Test passed
/u01/osv > /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-sun-1.6.0/bin/java -cp . TestPrintWriter
Test failed


REGRESSION. Last worked in version 5.0


REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.io.OutputStream;

public class TestPrintWriter {

  static class MyPrintWriter extends PrintWriter {
       public MyPrintWriter(OutputStream out) {
           super(out);
       }

       public void myMethod() {
           setError();
       }
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
       MyPrintWriter pw = new MyPrintWriter(System.out);
       pw.myMethod(); // myMethod sets an error
       if (pw.checkError())
           System.out.println("Test passed");
       else
           System.out.println("Test failed");
   }
}

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