First, sorry this is so long. I probably don’t need all the code, but

Question

0

Editorial Team

Asked: May 16, 20262026-05-16T20:12:10+00:00 2026-05-16T20:12:10+00:00

First, sorry this is so long. I probably don’t need all the code, but

0

First, sorry this is so long. I probably don’t need all the code, but wanted to be sure.

Second, my actual question is, am I doing something wrong, or is this a bug in the joda-time library?

I’m trying to use joda-time (1.6.1) to calculate, then format time durations.

I’m currently using Period, which may be the wrong choice. Please let me know if it is.
However, even if it is the wrong choice, I’m pretty sure this shouldn’t happening.

I’m initialising a Period using milliseconds (by multiplying a duration in seconds by 1000). I’m using the Period so I can then format it and print it:

long durationLong = durationSec * 1000;
Period duration = new Period(durationLong);

PeriodFormatter daysHoursMinutes = new PeriodFormatterBuilder()
    .appendHours()
    .appendSeparator(":")
    .appendMinutes()
    .appendSeparator(":")
    .appendSeconds()
    .toFormatter();

String formattedString = daysHoursMinutes.print(callDuration.normalizedStandard());

I get the Exception below, and have looked through the source to confirm the loop.

Caused by: java.lang.StackOverflowError
    at java.util.Hashtable.get(Hashtable.java:274)
    at java.util.Properties.getProperty(Properties.java:177)
    at java.lang.System.getProperty(System.java:440)
    at java.lang.System.getProperty(System.java:412)
    at org.joda.time.DateTimeZone.getDefault(DateTimeZone.java:132)
    at org.joda.time.DateTimeZone.forID(DateTimeZone.java:190)
    at org.joda.time.DateTimeZone.getDefault(DateTimeZone.java:132)
    at org.joda.time.DateTimeZone.forID(DateTimeZone.java:190)

...snip (all the same)...

    at org.joda.time.DateTimeZone.getDefault(DateTimeZone.java:132)
    at org.joda.time.DateTimeZone.forID(DateTimeZone.java:190)
    at org.joda.time.DateTimeZone.getDefault(DateTimeZone.java:132)
    at org.joda.time.DateTimeZone.forID(Dat

Period(long):

public Period(long duration) {
    super(duration, null, null);
}

super(long, PeriodType, Chronology):

protected BasePeriod(long duration, PeriodType type, Chronology chrono) {
    super();
    type = checkPeriodType(type);
    chrono = DateTimeUtils.getChronology(chrono);
    iType = type;
    iValues = chrono.get(this, duration);
}

DateTimeUtils.getChronology(chrono):

public static final Chronology getChronology(Chronology chrono) {
    if (chrono == null) {
        return ISOChronology.getInstance();
    }
    return chrono;
}

ISOChronology.getInstance():

public static ISOChronology getInstance() {
    return getInstance(DateTimeZone.getDefault());
}

DateTimeZone.getDefault():

public static DateTimeZone getDefault() {
    DateTimeZone zone = cDefault;
    if (zone == null) {
        synchronized(DateTimeZone.class) {
            zone = cDefault;
            if (zone == null) {
                DateTimeZone temp = null;
                try {
                    try {
                        temp = forID(System.getProperty("user.timezone"));
                    } catch (RuntimeException ex) {
                        // ignored
                    }
                    if (temp == null) {
                        temp = forTimeZone(TimeZone.getDefault());
                    }
                } catch (IllegalArgumentException ex) {
                    // ignored
                }
                if (temp == null) {
                    temp = UTC;
                }
                cDefault = zone = temp;
            }
        }
    }
    return zone;
}

forID(String) calls getDefault(), which creates the loop:

 public static DateTimeZone forID(String id) {
    if (id == null) {
        return getDefault();
    }
    if (id.equals("UTC")) {
        return DateTimeZone.UTC;
    }
    DateTimeZone zone = cProvider.getZone(id);
    if (zone != null) {
        return zone;
    }
    if (id.startsWith("+") || id.startsWith("-")) {
        int offset = parseOffset(id);
        if (offset == 0L) {
            return DateTimeZone.UTC;
        } else {
            id = printOffset(offset);
            return fixedOffsetZone(id, offset);
        }
    }
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("The datetime zone id is not recognised: " + id);
}