Summary

Deprecate for removal the class java.util.zip.ZipError.

Problem

ZipError was introduced via JDK-4615343 in JDK 6 and extends java.lang.InternalError to maintain compatibiliy with any existing client code catching InternalError.

Its usage was removed from ZipFile in JDK 9 when the use of native code transitioned to Java via JDK-8142508. The only other use was in the original ZipFS demo which also was removed when ZipFS was integrated into JDK 9 as a supported Module. The JDK never documented in any API specification that ZipError was thrown.

The ZipError class is easy to confuse with similarly named ZipException class in the same package. It is not suitable for general-purpose ZIP exceptions as it extends InternalError, yet there is no warning against its usage.

A corpus search on GitHub and Maven showed only a handful of uses.

Solution

Mark the class java.util.zip.ZipError as deprecated, for removal.

Affected client code should be updated to catch or throw ZipException. Code base needing to catch ZipError on JDK 8 should catch the super class InternalError instead.

This specification change will be accompanied by a Release Note in the release it is approved for.

Specification

diff --git a/src/java.base/share/classes/java/util/zip/ZipError.java b/src/java.base/share/classes/java/util/zip/ZipError.java
index 2aa37bef010..933cc447091 100644
--- a/src/java.base/share/classes/java/util/zip/ZipError.java
+++ b/src/java.base/share/classes/java/util/zip/ZipError.java
@@ -28,9 +28,12 @@
 /**
  * Signals that an unrecoverable error has occurred.
  *
+ * @deprecated ZipError is no longer used and is obsolete.
+ * {@link ZipException} should be used instead.
  * @author  Dave Bristor
  * @since   1.6
  */
+@Deprecated(since="24", forRemoval = true)
 public class ZipError extends InternalError {
     @java.io.Serial
     private static final long serialVersionUID = 853973422266861979L;