Compile time checks for class initialization deadlocks

Description of the problem / feature request:

Class initialization deadlocks are common when a type uses one of its subtypes in a static field or block.

Feature requests: what underlying problem are you trying to solve with this feature?

I would like to catch these deadlocks at compile time rather than intermittently at runtime! I have implemented such a check here, but I believe it would be a good candidate for error-prone upstream:

https://github.com/palantir/gradle-baseline/pull/1598

Bugs: what’s the simplest, easiest way to reproduce this bug? Please provide a minimal example if possible.

Example from guava: https://github.com/google/guava/issues/1977

class Base {
  static final Object FIELD = new Sub();
  static class Sub implements Base {
  }
}

What version of Error Prone are you using?

2.4.0

Have you found anything relevant by searching the web?

no

[magibney]

+1; this feature would have helped with https://github.com/apache/solr/pull/819 (https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/SOLR-16165).

It’s worth mentioning @carterkozak’s subsequent blog post on the topic.

[carterkozak]

No worries, @cushon. I’d be happy to 😃