[BUG] Jackson 3 FailedState.doNotRetry deserialization fails on GraalVM Native Image

[blogcin]

JobRunr Version

8.4.2 (master branch, reproducible since Jackson 3 support was added)

JDK Version

GraalVM CE 21+ (Native Image). Works correctly on HotSpot JVM.

Your SQL / NoSQL database

Any (not database-specific — the bug is in JSON deserialization)

What happened?

When deserializing FailedState on GraalVM Native Image, the primitive boolean doNotRetry field causes:

IllegalArgumentException: Can not set boolean field org.jobrunr.jobs.states.FailedState.doNotRetry to java.lang.Integer

Expected: FailedState deserializes correctly with doNotRetry preserving its true/false value.

Root cause: Jackson 3 (tools.jackson.databind) uses MethodHandle.invokeExact for field setting. On GraalVM Native Image, the MethodHandle adaptation chain that converts (Object, Object)V → (FailedState, boolean)V has a bug that corrupts Boolean into Integer before reaching UnsafeBooleanFieldAccessorImpl.set().

Key observations:

• The deserialized value itself is correctly java.lang.Boolean — Jackson's error handler confirms this.
• The corruption happens inside the MethodHandle chain, not during deserialization.
• Both true/false values fail equally — this is not a coercion issue.
• CoercionConfig(Integer → Boolean) does NOT fix it (confirmed — see branch).

How to reproduce?

1. Create a FailedState with doNotRetry = true (e.g., from a JobRunrException with isProblematicAndDoNotRetry())
2. Serialize to JSON with Jackson3JsonMapper
3. Deserialize back on GraalVM Native Image

Jackson3JsonMapper jsonMapper = new Jackson3JsonMapper();

// Round-trip: serialize then deserialize
JobRunrException exception = JobRunrException.problematicConfigurationException("Problematic config");
FailedState original = new FailedState("Job failed", exception);

String json = jsonMapper.serialize(original);
FailedState deserialized = jsonMapper.deserialize(json, FailedState.class);
// ^ throws IllegalArgumentException on GraalVM Native Image

// Direct JSON deserialization also fails:
String directJson = """
    {
      "@class": "org.jobrunr.jobs.states.FailedState",
      "state": "FAILED",
      "createdAt": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
      "message": "Job failed",
      "exceptionType": "org.jobrunr.JobRunrException",
      "exceptionMessage": "Problematic config",
      "stackTrace": "org.jobrunr.JobRunrException: Problematic config",
      "doNotRetry": true
    }
    """;
FailedState fromJson = jsonMapper.deserialize(directJson, FailedState.class);
// ^ same IllegalArgumentException on Native Image

A test suite to reproduce this bug is available in my fork:
tests/e2e-native-jackson3

git clone https://github.com/blogcin/jobrunr.git
cd jobrunr
git checkout fix/donotretry-with-tests
./gradlew :tests:e2e-native-jackson3:nativeTest

Relevant log output

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Can not set boolean field org.jobrunr.jobs.states.FailedState.doNotRetry to java.lang.Integer
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.UnsafeBooleanFieldAccessorImpl.set(UnsafeBooleanFieldAccessorImpl.java)
    at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Field.set(Field.java)
    at java.base/java.lang.invoke.MethodHandle.invokeExact(MethodHandle.java)
    at tools.jackson.databind.deser.impl.FieldProperty.set(FieldProperty.java)
    at tools.jackson.databind.deser.impl.FieldProperty.deserializeAndSet(FieldProperty.java)
    at tools.jackson.databind.deser.BeanDeserializer.deserializeFromObject(BeanDeserializer.java)

[auloin]

Hi @blogcin, I've my reserves on this issue tbh.

1. Why is this reported to us, JobRunr, instead of Jackson or GraalVM, shouldn't this type of issues be addressed at the source? (*)
2. We have another boolean field on JobDetails, cacheable, why would one field be deserializable but not the other?

(*) Btw thanks for raising this it's still interesting to know this is happening. It's just that we are not the best place to fix this type of isssues. Let's assume your analysis is correct and Jackson is not able to deserialize boolean fields in GraalVM, then I'd expect it to fail for custom objects, e.g., a job parameter, with a boolean field too.

[auloin]

I've had a look at your reproducer and can confirm the bug. I was also able to create a simpler reproducer that does not involve JobRunr (see below). The tests pass for Jackson 2 but fail for Jackson 3 (only boolean fields seem to be mishandled).

@blogcin do you mind reporting this to Jackson?

Reproducer:

package org.jobrunr.utils.mapper.jackson3;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import tools.jackson.databind.json.JsonMapper;

import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;

public class Jackson3BooleanPrimitiveFieldTest {

    private final ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
    private final JsonMapper jsonMapper = JsonMapper.builder().build();

    @Test
    void testJackson2PrimitiveFields() throws JsonProcessingException {
        var record = new TestRecord(5, 0.5, 'R', 10L, true);
        var json = objectMapper.writeValueAsString(record);
        var deserialized = objectMapper.readValue(json, TestRecord.class);
        assertThat(deserialized).isNotNull();
        assertThat(deserialized.getAmount()).isEqualTo(5);
        assertThat(deserialized.getRate()).isEqualTo(.5);
        assertThat(deserialized.getFlag()).isEqualTo('R');
        assertThat(deserialized.getTimestamp()).isEqualTo(10L);
        assertThat(deserialized.isEnabled()).isEqualTo(true);
    }

    @Test
    void testJackson3PrimitiveFields() {
        var record = new TestRecord(5, 0.5, 'R', 10L, true);
        var json = jsonMapper.writeValueAsString(record);
        var deserialized = jsonMapper.readValue(json, TestRecord.class);
        assertThat(deserialized).isNotNull();
        assertThat(deserialized.getAmount()).isEqualTo(5);
        assertThat(deserialized.getRate()).isEqualTo(.5);
        assertThat(deserialized.getFlag()).isEqualTo('R');
        assertThat(deserialized.getTimestamp()).isEqualTo(10L);
        assertThat(deserialized.isEnabled()).isEqualTo(true);
    }

    public static class TestRecord {
        private int amount;
        private double rate;
        private char flag;
        private long timestamp;
        private boolean enabled;

        public TestRecord() {
        }

        public TestRecord(int amount, double rate, char flag, long timestamp, boolean enabled) {
            this.amount = amount;
            this.rate = rate;
            this.flag = flag;
            this.timestamp = timestamp;
            this.enabled = enabled;
        }

        public int getAmount() { return amount; }
        public double getRate() { return rate; }
        public char getFlag() { return flag; }
        public long getTimestamp() { return timestamp; }
        public boolean isEnabled() { return enabled; }

    }
}

[blogcin]

Thanks for looking into this, @auloin.

Regarding cacheable: in JobDetails, it has a boxed Boolean backing field with a setCacheable(boolean ...) setter. Because of that, Jackson goes through the setter invocation path rather than direct field access, so cacheable is unaffected.

This issue is about Jackson 3's primitive field handling being broken on GraalVM Native Image. I initially raised this against JobRunr, but the root cause seems to be a GraalVM bug, already tracked upstream as oracle/graal#12596. So instead of filing against Jackson, I submitted a fix directly to GraalVM (oracle/graal#13042). Now waiting on review.

I agree the proper fix belongs upstream, but in the meantime, let me know what you think about #1494 as a temporary workaround.

[auloin]

Thanks for submitting the fix @blogcin!

let me know what you think about #1494 as a temporary workaround

Looks good to me. You can already use it by providing your own JsonMapper.Builder: https://www.jobrunr.io/en/documentation/serialization/jackson3/#adapting-jackson-3s-configuration. Unless upstream decides not to fix the issue, I don't think we're going to merge the PR.

[rdehuyss]

Solved by #1501 .