maven-javadoc-plugin unit tests: require JAVA_HOME?

[Laird Nelson <lj...@gmail.com>]

(Wasn't sure if this belonged on the Maven dev list or on the users list;
happy to carry the discussion on elsewhere if appropriate.)

I'm doing some Java 8 compatibility work on the maven-javadoc-plugin
locally and have discovered that the JavadocReportTest test requires a
JAVA_HOME environment variable to be set for all of its tests to pass.

One exemplary test that easily shows this behavior:

    /**
     * Test to find the javadoc executable when <code>java.home</code> is
not in the JDK_HOME. In this case, try to
     * use the <code>JAVA_HOME</code> environment variable.
     *
     * @throws Exception if any
     */
    public void testToFindJavadoc()
        throws Exception
    {
        String oldJreHome = System.getProperty( "java.home" );
        System.setProperty( "java.home", "foo/bar" );

        File testPom = new File( unit,
"javaHome-test/javaHome-test-plugin-config.xml" );
        JavadocReport mojo = (JavadocReport) lookupMojo( "javadoc", testPom
);
        mojo.execute(); // <-- unhandled IOException when JAVA_HOME is not
set

        System.setProperty( "java.home", oldJreHome );
    }

Was this deliberate?  This test will error out if JAVA_HOME is not set
thanks to AbstractJavadocMojo, which uses it as a fallback:

        //
----------------------------------------------------------------------
        // Try to find javadocExe from JAVA_HOME environment variable
        //
----------------------------------------------------------------------
        if ( !javadocExe.exists() || !javadocExe.isFile() )
        {
            Properties env = CommandLineUtils.getSystemEnvVars();
            String javaHome = env.getProperty( "JAVA_HOME" );
            if ( StringUtils.isEmpty( javaHome ) )
            {
                throw new IOException( "The environment variable JAVA_HOME
is not correctly set." ); // <-- responsible for the test error described
in this email
            }
            if ( ( !new File( javaHome ).getCanonicalFile().exists() ) || (
new File( javaHome ).getCanonicalFile().isFile() ) )
            {
                throw new IOException(
                    "The environment variable JAVA_HOME=" + javaHome + "
doesn't exist or is not a valid directory." );
            }

            javadocExe = new File( javaHome + File.separator + "bin",
javadocCommand );
        }

So the test in question deliberately sets the java.home System property to
a bozo value ("foo/bar"), and then the test errors out because the fallback
code does not detect a JAVA_HOME environment variable.

Is this worth a bug, or...?

Best,
Laird

-- 
http://about.me/lairdnelson