JDK-8085866 : There are 99 uses of FLAG_SET_ERGO, should they check the return value?
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Component: hotspot
  • Sub-Component: runtime
  • Affected Version: 9
  • Priority: P3
  • Status: Closed
  • Resolution: Duplicate
  • Submitted: 2015-06-04
  • Updated: 2023-07-26
  • Resolved: 2023-07-26
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JDK 22
22Resolved
Related Reports
Duplicate :  
JDK-8224980 - FLAG_SET_ERGO silently ignores invalid values
Relates :  
JDK-8078556 - Runtime: implement ranges (optionally constraints) for those flags that have them missing
Relates :  
JDK-8059557 - JEP 245: Validate JVM Command-Line Flag Arguments
Relates :  
JDK-8224980 - FLAG_SET_ERGO silently ignores invalid values
Description
There are 99 uses of FLAG_SET_ERGO in 12 files, should they check the return value like FLAG_SET_CMDLINE?

The initial assumption was that FLAG_SET_ERGO users know what they are doing, but there are bugs. Should we check the return value and assert if range/constraint is invalidated?
Comments
Maybe we should make FLAG_SET_ERGO return "void" after JDK-8224980 is fixed. I am not sure if there's a specification about what the caller should do in response to different return values.
26-07-2023
FLAG_SET_ERGO is changed to return (void) in JDK-8224980, so there's no return value to check anymore. If an invalid value is passed to FLAG_SET_ERGO, the VM will assert.
26-07-2023
The change for JDK-8224980 fixes this silently ignoring errors in FLAG_SET_ERGO problem. There's no reason to check the return value and it'll just be noise. Since we call FLAG_SET_ERGO internally, the fatal assert is fine. Closing as WNF.
14-07-2023