8 Nov 2000,  xxxxx@xxxxx  -- see also # 4337857, 4334265, 4065313
------------------------
java version "1.3.0"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.3.0-C)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.3.0-C, mixed mode)

I believe the following invalid ObjectStreamField definition should
result in the program failing with a WriteAbortedException or similar
exception rather than crashing with a NullPointerException.

import java.io.*;

class X implements Serializable
{
    private static final ObjectStreamField[] serialPersistentFields = {
        new ObjectStreamField("int", int.class),
    };
    private int i = 1;

    public String toString()
    {
        return "{i="+i+"}";
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
    {
        X x = new X();
        FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream("x.ser");
        ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(fos);
        oos.writeObject(x);
        oos.close();
        System.out.println("Wrote: "+x);
        System.exit(0);
    }
}

bash-2.04$ java -cp . X
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
        at java.io.ObjectOutputStream.getPrimitiveFieldValues(Native Method)
        at java.io.ObjectOutputStream.outputClassFields
(ObjectOutputStream.java:1826)
        at java.io.ObjectOutputStream.defaultWriteObject
(ObjectOutputStream.java:480)
        at java.io.ObjectOutputStream.outputObject(ObjectOutputStream.java:1214)

        at java.io.ObjectOutputStream.writeObject(ObjectOutputStream.java:366)
        at X.main(X.java:20)
bash-2.04$
(Review ID: 111078) 
======================================================================

Don't screw up the serialPersistentFields definition
======================================================================

This is a bug; as stated in the description, some exception other than
NullPointerException should be thrown (most likely an IOException subclass).
Note that the NullPointerException does not occur if the PutField API is
used to set the outgoing field values, which is the intended usage in cases
where serialPersistentFields is used to define serializable fields that don't
exist in the class.

 xxxxx@xxxxx  2000-11-08

ObjectOutputStream.writeObject() now throws an InvalidClassException if
an attempt is made to write an object via default serialization which
defines "unmatched" serializable fields.

 xxxxx@xxxxx  2001-03-21