ADDITIONAL SYSTEM INFORMATION :
$ java -version
java version "12.0.2" 2019-07-16
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 12.0.2+10)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 12.0.2+10, mixed mode, sharing)


A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
Goal (task at hand) is to convert existing automatic modules to named modules in order to produce (i.e. jlink) an executable. Automatic modules not allowed because they retain the CLASSPATH being shed by move to modules.

Have successfully converted jars that were not multi-version.

Unable to generate module-info.java for multi-version jar from Apache (log4j-core-2.11.0.jar) .
jdeps --generate-module-info . --multi-release 9 ../mods/org.apache.log4j.core.jar
Error: org.apache.log4j.core.jar is a multi-release jar file but --multi-release option is not set

Related issue… discussed in a stack overflow article. Note: JDK 12 did not fix it!
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/53581799/jdeps-command-use-with-multi-release-option-failed
The one Answer provided suggests this is/was a known defect fixed in JDK12 EA. Six months have gone by and we are on 12.0.2 release at the time this defect was submitted.
JDK 12 did not fix it!


STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
If you already have a project containing a version of log4j-core-2.11.0.jar use it. Next couple of steps will put one into your repository…

This defect has a simple hello world project attached. Extract contents of zip file into folder and ‘cd’ into folder.

# Build it
$ mvn clean install

# Build created a distribution assembly. Unzip the distribution assembly.
$ cd target
$ unzip SurefireStartupIssue-dist.zip
Archive: SurefireStartupIssue-dist.zip
   creating: SurefireStartupIssue/
   creating: SurefireStartupIssue/conf/
   creating: SurefireStartupIssue/lib/
  inflating: SurefireStartupIssue/conf/log4j2.xml
  inflating: SurefireStartupIssue/lib/spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar
  inflating: SurefireStartupIssue/lib/log4j-api-2.11.0.jar
  inflating: SurefireStartupIssue/lib/SurefireStartupIssue-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar
  inflating: SurefireStartupIssue/lib/log4j-core-2.11.0.jar
  inflating: SurefireStartupIssue/lib/commons-lang3-3.7.jar
  inflating: SurefireStartupIssue/lib/spring-core-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar
  inflating: SurefireStartupIssue/lib/spring-context-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar
  inflating: SurefireStartupIssue/lib/spring-aop-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar
  inflating: SurefireStartupIssue/lib/spring-jcl-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar
  inflating: SurefireStartupIssue/lib/spring-expression-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar

# Check to see the one provided is an “automatic” module.
# Remember that jlink doesn’t use/want automatic modules.
# Hooks them into CLASSPATH… the very thing they are trying to escape.

$ cd SurefireStartupIssue/
$ jar --describe-module -f ../lib/log4j-core-2.11.0.jar
No module descriptor found. Derived automatic module.

org.apache.logging.log4j.core@2.11.0 automatic
requires java.base mandated
provides javax.annotation.processing.Processor with org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.plugins.processor.PluginProcessor
provides org.apache.logging.log4j.message.ThreadDumpMessage$ThreadInfoFactory with org.apache.logging.log4j.core.message.ExtendedThreadInfoFactory
provides org.apache.logging.log4j.spi.Provider with org.apache.logging.log4j.core.impl.Log4jProvider
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.db
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.db.jdbc
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.mom
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.mom.jeromq
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.mom.kafka
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.nosql
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.rewrite
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.rolling
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.rolling.action
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.routing
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.async
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.builder.api
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.builder.impl
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.composite
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.json
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.plugins
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.plugins.convert
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.plugins.processor
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.plugins.util
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.plugins.validation
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.plugins.validation.constraints
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.plugins.validation.validators
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.plugins.visitors
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.properties
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.status
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.xml
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.yaml
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.filter
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.impl
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.jackson
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.jmx
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.layout
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.lookup
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.message
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.net
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.net.ssl
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.osgi
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.parser
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.pattern
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.script
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.selector
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.time
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.time.internal
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.tools
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.tools.picocli
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.util
contains org.apache.logging.log4j.core.util.datetime

# Automatic module looks alright. Let’s convert this to a named module.
$ mkdir mods
$ cp lib/log4j-core-2.11.0.jar mods/org.apache.log4j.core.jar
$ mkdir work; cd work
$ jar xf ../mods/org.apache.log4j.core.jar



# Bug demonstrated when command ignores multi-release option when generate-module-info used.
$ jdeps --generate-module-info . ../mods/org.apache.log4j.core.jar
Error: org.apache.log4j.core.jar is a multi-release jar file but --multi-release option is not set

$ jdeps --generate-module-info . --multi-release 9 ../mods/org.apache.log4j.core.jar
Error: org.apache.log4j.core.jar is a multi-release jar file but --multi-release option is not set

$ jdeps --multi-release 9 ../mods/org.apache.log4j.core.jar # Notice how this does work!
org.apache.log4j.core.jar -> java.base
org.apache.log4j.core.jar -> java.compiler
<output truncated for brevity – dependencies listed >


EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
Expected generation of a module-info.java file.
ACTUAL -
Error message printed. No module-info.java file produced.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
2 files listed: Main.java and a pom.xml

$ cat src/main/java/com/samplebiz/surefirestartupissue/Main.java
package com.samplebiz.surefirestartupissue;

import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;

public class Main {
    protected static Logger logger = LogManager.getLogger(Main.class);

    /**
     * @param args the command line arguments
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        logger.info(Main.class.getSimpleName() + " starting");
        System.out.println("Hello world!");
        logger.info(Main.class.getSimpleName() + " finished");
    }
}

-------------------

pom.xml

$ cat pom.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.samplebiz</groupId>
    <artifactId>SurefireStartupIssue</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>jar</packaging>
    <properties>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
        <jdk.version>11</jdk.version>
        <maven.compiler.source>12</maven.compiler.source>
        <maven.compiler.target>12</maven.compiler.target>
        <javadoc.opts>-Xdoclint:none</javadoc.opts>

        <!-- define jdk versions -->
        <maven.compiler.source>${jdk.version}</maven.compiler.source>
        <maven.compiler.target>${jdk.version}</maven.compiler.target>

        <!-- define versions -->
        <log4j.version>2.11.0</log4j.version>
        <junit.version>4.12</junit.version>
        <powermock.version>2.0.0</powermock.version>
        <easymock.version>3.6</easymock.version>
        <maven-compiler-plugin.version>3.8.1</maven-compiler-plugin.version>
        <maven-source-plugin.version>3.1.0</maven-source-plugin.version>
        <maven-deploy-plugin.version>3.0.0-M1</maven-deploy-plugin.version>
        <commons-lang3.version>3.7</commons-lang3.version>
        <javadoc.version>3.0.0</javadoc.version>
        <maven-assembly-plugin.version>3.1.0</maven-assembly-plugin.version>
        <maven-jar-plugin.version>3.0.2</maven-jar-plugin.version>
        <maven-surefire-plugin.version>3.0.0-M3</maven-surefire-plugin.version>
        <mockito-core.version>2.18.3</mockito-core.version>
        <jacoco-maven-plugin.version>0.8.4</jacoco-maven-plugin.version>
        <versions-plugin.version>2.7</versions-plugin.version>
        <org.springframework.version>5.1.2.RELEASE</org.springframework.version>

        <!-- argLine -->
        <argLine> </argLine>
    </properties>

    <!-- dependencies on external jars -->
    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>log4j-api</artifactId>
            <version>${log4j.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>log4j-core</artifactId>
            <version>${log4j.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>junit</groupId>
            <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
            <version>${junit.version}</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
            <artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
            <version>${commons-lang3.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Added to mvnrepository repositories in ~/.m2/settings.xml -->
        <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.easymock/easymock -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.easymock</groupId>
            <artifactId>easymock</artifactId>
            <version>${easymock.version}</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Added to mvnrepository repositories in ~/.m2/settings.xml -->
        <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.powermock/powermock-api-easymock -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.powermock</groupId>
            <artifactId>powermock-core</artifactId>
            <version>${powermock.version}</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.powermock</groupId>
            <artifactId>powermock-api-easymock</artifactId>
            <version>${powermock.version}</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.powermock</groupId>
            <artifactId>powermock-module-junit4</artifactId>
            <version>${powermock.version}</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

<!--
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
            <version>${org.springframework.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
            <version>${org.springframework.version}</version>
        </dependency>
-->

    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <finalName>${project.artifactId}</finalName>
        <plugins>

            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
                <artifactId>versions-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${versions-plugin.version}</version>
                <configuration>
                    <generateBackupPoms>false</generateBackupPoms>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>

            <!-- Set a JDK compiler level -->
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${maven-compiler-plugin.version}</version>
                <configuration>
                    <source>${jdk.version}</source>
                    <target>${jdk.version}</target>
                    <release>${jdk.version}</release>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>

            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-source-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${maven-source-plugin.version}</version>
                <configuration>
                    <skipSource>true</skipSource>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>

            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-deploy-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${maven-deploy-plugin.version}</version>
                <configuration>
                    <skip>true</skip>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>

            <!-- Surefire plugin required to specify version and set
            to use single process => forkCount = 1 -->
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${maven-surefire-plugin.version}</version>
                <configuration>
                    <reuseForks>false</reuseForks>
                    <forkCount>1</forkCount>
                    <argLine>@{argLine} -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8</argLine>
                    <skipTests>true</skipTests>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>

            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.jacoco</groupId>
                <artifactId>jacoco-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${jacoco-maven-plugin.version}</version>
                <executions>

                    <!-- Prepares the property pointing to the JaCoCo runtime agent which
                        is passed as VM argument when Maven's Surefire plugin is executed.
                    -->
                    <execution>
                        <id>pre-unit-test</id>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>prepare-agent</goal>
                        </goals>
                        <configuration>
                            <destFile>${project.build.directory}/coverage-reports/jacoco-unit-test.exec</destFile>
                        </configuration>
                    </execution>

                    <!-- Ensures that the code coverage report for unit tests is created after
                         unit tests have been run.
                    -->
                    <execution>
                        <id>post-unit-test</id>
                        <phase>test</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>report</goal>
                        </goals>
                        <configuration>
                            <!-- Sets the path to the file which contains the execution data. -->
                            <dataFile>${project.build.directory}/coverage-reports/jacoco-unit-test.exec</dataFile>
                            <!-- Sets the output directory for the code coverage report. -->
                            <outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/coverage-reports</outputDirectory>
                        </configuration>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
            </plugin>

            <!-- Javadoc of each class -->
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${javadoc.version}</version>
                <configuration>
                    <doctitle>API for ${project.name} ${project.version}</doctitle>
                    <show>private</show>
                    <source>${jdk.version}</source>
                    <docfilessubdirs>true</docfilessubdirs>
                </configuration>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <id>attach-javadocs</id>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>jar</goal>
                        </goals>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
            </plugin>

            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <id>copy-dependencies</id>
                        <phase>prepare-package</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>copy-dependencies</goal>
                        </goals>
                        <configuration>
                            <outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/lib</outputDirectory>
                            <overWriteReleases>false</overWriteReleases>
                            <overWriteSnapshots>false</overWriteSnapshots>
                            <overWriteIfNewer>true</overWriteIfNewer>
                        </configuration>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
            </plugin>

            <!-- Make this jar executable complete with manifest -->
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${maven-jar-plugin.version}</version>
                <configuration>
                    <!-- DO NOT include log4j.properties file in your Jar -->
                    <excludes>
                        <exclude>*.properties</exclude>
<!-- <exclude>**/log4j.properties</exclude>
                        <exclude>**/mandelbrot.properties</exclude>-->
                    </excludes>
                    <archive>
                        <manifest>
                            <!-- Jar file main entry point -->
                            <mainClass>com.wilasch.mandelbrot.navigator.Main</mainClass>
                            <classpathPrefix>./lib/</classpathPrefix>
                            <addClasspath>true</addClasspath>
                        </manifest>

                        <!--External resources will be placed under conf/-->
                        <manifestEntries>
                            <Class-Path>./conf/</Class-Path>
                        </manifestEntries>
                    </archive>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>

            <plugin>
                <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${maven-assembly-plugin.version}</version>
                <configuration>
                    <descriptors>
                        <descriptor>${basedir}/src/assembly/distribution-zip.xml</descriptor>
                    </descriptors>
                </configuration>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <phase>package</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>single</goal>
                        </goals>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
            </plugin>

        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>



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

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
No workaround known.

FREQUENCY : always