Overview

Java is a prolific programming language that is used in everything from phones to cars to desktops to servers. Software that is used around the world must work in different locales, timezones, and character sets. By default, Java doesn’t protect programmers from making poor decisions when it comes to international software. Apache Lucene/Solr, which I am a commiter to, led the way in dealing with preventing bad habits with automated tools.

Dealing with Turkish locale

One example of Java’s bad default behavior is with lowercasing strings. With the Turkish locale, lowercasing or uppercasing a string can result in multiple formats. Locale.getDefault() causes issues with the Turkish locale. The default method java.lang.String@toLowerCase() is dangerous in this regard. Instead you should use Locale.ROOT to avoid locale specific case changing. If you are not presenting the string, it won’t matter if you use Locale.ROOT.

Introduction to forbidden-apis

forbidden-apis is a project written by @uschindler that hooks into the build process to prevent certain API usage. The build can be configured to fail if a signature is found. forbidden-apis can be used with Apache Ant, Apache Maven, and Gradle. The automated tool forbidden-apis makes it impossible to use methods that have ambiguous locale, timezone, and charset implications. The forbidden-apis tool is used in Apache Lucene/Solr to prevent these types of problems from occuring. forbidden-apis has been blogged about here, here, and here.

Apache Caclite and forbidden-apis

Apache Calcite is a project that provides pieces to build a database including SQL parsing and query optimization. I integrated Apache Calcite into Apache Solr to improve the SQL support. During this integration, Apache Solr automated tests found an issue with Apache Calcite and its handling of locales, timezones, and charsets. CALCITE-1667 tracked integrating forbidden-apis to ensure that problems don’t creep back into later releases. In the first half of 2017, Apache Calcite 1.12.0 and Apache Calcite Avatica 1.10.0 were released fixing the issues mentioned above.

What is next?

forbidden-apis can prevent issues that are not easy to predict with automated tests. Not many developers test across multiple locales, timezones, and charsets. forbidden-apis is one more tool to help make stable software.