Hello!

Here is a bug, that all versions of SUN java 1-5-0 compilers seem to have.

The bug is, that a class, extending a base class, cannot be compiled
(because of a (wrong) error message), except you compile
both base class and sub class together.

Try this:
Write to classes, store them in appropriate files:

--------------------Base.java--------------------
public class Base {

    protected class Inner <T> {
    }

    protected Inner<String> constructInnerOfString (String s) {
        return new Inner<String>();
    }

}
--------------------/Base.java--------------------

--------------------Sub.java--------------------
public class Sub extends Base {

    private Inner<String> innerStr = constructInnerOfString("");

}
--------------------/Sub.java--------------------

Now compile:
  javac -classpath .  Base.java Sub.java
It works.

Now compile only the sub class:
  javac -classpath .   Sub.java

Ooops, you will get this (wrong) compiler error message:
  Sub.java:4: incompatible types
  found   : Base.Inner<java.lang.String>
  required: Base.Inner<java.lang.String>
          private Inner<String> innerStr = constructInnerOfString("");
                                                                 ^
  1 error

The problem seem to occur every time, you assign it to a variable.
If you assign the variable 'innerStr' in a constructor, you will get it,
too.
If you just call the method constructInnerOfString(...), you will get it
not.

Is this compiler bug known?
Or is it a new one?
Does anybody know anything about it?

Greetings

    Reinhard Bellmann