NullPointerException thrown when environment contains strings without `='

Web Server is using a in process VM.Using release b63
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.5.0-rc-b63, mixed mode, sharing)


During execution of a jsp in webserver with JSK1.5 a NP is thrown in java class ProcessEnvironment.java. The NP is triggered when the jsp does a exec(). The stack trace is as follows:

javax.servlet.ServletException
        at org.apache.jasper.runtime.PageContextImpl.handlePageException(PageContextImpl.java:536)
        at _jsps._DateFormat1_jsp._jspService(_DateFormat1_jsp.java:108)
        at org.apache.jasper.runtime.HttpJspBase.service(HttpJspBase.java:107)
        at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:908)
        at com.iplanet.ias.web.jsp.JspServlet$JspServletWrapper.service(JspServlet.java:675)
        at com.iplanet.ias.web.jsp.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:447)
        at com.iplanet.ias.web.jsp.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:363)
        at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:908)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invokeServletService(StandardWrapperValve.java:774)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:322)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:509)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:216)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:509)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:209)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:509)
        at com.iplanet.ias.web.connector.nsapi.NSAPIProcessor.process(NSAPIProcessor.java:161)
        at com.iplanet.ias.web.WebContainer.service(WebContainer.java:594)
----- Root Cause -----
java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
        at java.lang.System.getenv(System.java:844)
        at _jsps._DateFormat1_jsp._jspService(_DateFormat1_jsp.java:76)
        at org.apache.jasper.runtime.HttpJspBase.service(HttpJspBase.java:107)
        at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:908)
        at com.iplanet.ias.web.jsp.JspServlet$JspServletWrapper.service(JspServlet.java:675)
        at com.iplanet.ias.web.jsp.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:447)
        at com.iplanet.ias.web.jsp.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:363)
        at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:908)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invokeServletService(StandardWrapperValve.java:774)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:322)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:509)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:216)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:509)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:209)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:509)
        at com.iplanet.ias.web.connector.nsapi.NSAPIProcessor.process(NSAPIProcessor.java:161)
        at com.iplanet.ias.web.WebContainer.service(WebContainer.java:594)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
        at java.lang.String.<init>(String.java:479)
        at java.lang.ProcessEnvironment$Variable.valueOf(ProcessEnvironment.java:160)
        at java.lang.ProcessEnvironment.<clinit>(ProcessEnvironment.java:60)
        ... 17 more

I added some print statements to ProcessEnvironment.java and the variable is indeed NULL. Here is the snippet from the log and the source code:

[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] warning (10783): CORE3283: stderr: [Loaded java.lang.ProcessEnvironment from /export/uma/s1ws/iplanet/ias/server/work/B1/SunOS5.8_DBG.OBJ/bin/https/jar/jvmbug.jar]
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ.length = 114
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[112] = [B@19bb25a
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] warning (10783): CORE3283: stderr: [Loaded java.lang.ProcessEnvironment$ExternalData from /export/uma/s1ws/iplanet/ias/server/work/B1/SunOS5.8_DBG.OBJ/bin/https/jar/jvmbug.jar]
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] warning (10783): CORE3283: stderr: [Loaded java.lang.ProcessEnvironment$Variable from /export/uma/s1ws/iplanet/ias/server/work/B1/SunOS5.8_DBG.OBJ/bin/https/jar/jvmbug.jar]
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] warning (10783): CORE3283: stderr: [Loaded java.lang.ProcessEnvironment$Value from /export/uma/s1ws/iplanet/ias/server/work/B1/SunOS5.8_DBG.OBJ/bin/https/jar/jvmbug.jar]
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[110] = [B@b9e45a
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[108] = [B@3ef810
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[106] = [B@100363
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[104] = [B@14e8cee
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[102] = [B@67064
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[100] = [B@bcda2d
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[98] = [B@97d01f
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[96] = [B@e0a386
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[94] = [B@feb48
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[92] = [B@11ff436
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[90] = [B@da3a1e
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[88] = [B@11dba45
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[86] = [B@b03be0
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[84] = [B@2af081
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[82] = [B@113a53d
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[80] = [B@c5495e
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[78] = [B@53fb57
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[76] = [B@19a32e0
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[74] = [B@8238f4
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[72] = [B@16925b0
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[70] = [B@297ffb
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[68] = [B@914f6a
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[66] = [B@1f4cbee
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[64] = [B@787d6a
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[62] = [B@71dc3d
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[60] = [B@1326484
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[58] = [B@16546ef
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[56] = [B@1428ea
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[54] = [B@18a49e0
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[52] = [B@1f82982
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[50] = [B@16d2633
[10/Sep/2004:14:24:25] info (10783): CORE3282: stdout: JVMBUG: environ[48] = null


final class ProcessEnvironment
{
    private static final HashMap<Variable,Value> theEnvironment;
    private static final Map<String,String> theUnmodifiableEnvironment;
    static final int MIN_NAME_LENGTH = 0;

    static {
        // We cache the C environment. This means that subsequent calls
        // to putenv/setenv from C will not be visible from Java code.
        byte[][] environ = environ();
        theEnvironment = new HashMap<Variable,Value>(environ.length/2 + 3);
        // Read environment variables back to front,
        // so that earlier variables override later ones.
        System.out.println("JVMBUG: environ.length = "+environ.length);
        for (int i = environ.length-1; i > 0; i-=2) {
            System.out.println("JVMBUG: environ["+(i-1)+"] = "+environ[i-1]);
            theEnvironment.put(Variable.valueOf(environ[i-1]),
                               Value.valueOf(environ[i]));
        }

        theUnmodifiableEnvironment
            = Collections.unmodifiableMap
            (new StringEnvironment(theEnvironment));
    }

To reproduce the problem in the webserver env [please call me X15722 if you need help with this]. I was unable to reproduce the bug in a simple test case.
1. Download webserver from /net/redbuild.red.iplanet.com/export/builds/webserver/ES6.1sp2/build/ships/P20040407_GC.1/greenaway_SunOS2.8
2. Install the webserver in <install_root>
3. Change the JDK location in <install_root>/bin/https/jdk [which in 1.4] to 1.5 using a softlink
4. Save the attached jsp file at <install_root>/docs/
5. cd to <install_root>/https-<machine-name>
6 type command ./start
7. Using the browser access the jsp using command
http://localhost:&lt;port_number&gt;/Dateformat1.jsp

Where port_number is the port that you specified for the instance during the instllation.
The browser will report an error. You can check the log at <install_root>/https-<machine_name>/logs




###@###.### 2004-09-13
###@###.### 2004-09-13