Copied from https://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/jigsaw-dev/2020-May/014513.html

A modular [bach-demo-99] I generated to check my build tool
against, failed to create a custom runtime image using jlink
via itsToolProvider-based service entry-point.

The project consists of 100 module descriptors. No other Java
source files (for classes and interfaces) are part of that demo.
Each descriptor ball${i}n declares a "requires ball${j}n;" with j
set to a number from 0 to i-1 ... in words, all lower modules.

javac compiles this project with problems.

Arguments passed to jlink (as an array of string) reads:

jlink
  --add-modules ball27n,ball43n,ball88n,[...],ball77n,ball93n
  --module-path .bach\workspace\modules
  --output .bach\workspace\image
  --compress 2
  --no-header-files
  --no-man-pages

The error message reads:

jdk.internal.org.objectweb.asm.MethodTooLargeException: Method too large:
jdk/internal/module/SystemModules$all.moduleDescriptors
()[Ljava/lang/module/ModuleDescriptor;

Is there a limitation of supported modules that can be linked?
Is the module graph of this conceived project too far out of scope?

[ bach-demo-99]:
https://github.com/sormuras/bach/blob/master/src/bach/bach-demo-99.jsh

Kasper Nielsen wrote:
JLink generates a "system modules" aggregate class that contains information on every system module. Unfortunately, it does so in a single method. So you are hitting the 64KB limit of methods because you have too many modules with too much info. I would create a bug.

Rémi Forax wrote:
It's a bug in the implementation,
jlink pre-resolve the module graph and encodes it in a generated classfile.
The fact that that classfile can have a method too big was overlooked.