MySQL JDBC Driver 5.1.33 - Time Zone Issue

Question

Some background:

I have a Java 1.6 webapp running on Tomcat 7. The database is MySQL 5.5. Previously, I was using Mysql JDBC driver 5.1.23 to connect to the DB. Ever

Answer 1

This is a bug in mysql-connector-java from version 5.1.33 to 5.1.37. I've reported it here: http://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=79343

Edited: This has been corrected from mysql-connector-java 5.1.39

It was a typo in TimeUtil class in loadTimeZoneMappings method that raises a NPE locating /com/mysql/jdbc/TimeZoneMapping.properties file. If you look at the code, the file should be located within TimeUtil class loader, not TimeZone:

TimeUtil.class.getResourceAsStream(TIME_ZONE_MAPPINGS_RESOURCE);

The parameter useLegacyDatetimeCode allows to correct the difference between client and server timezones automatically when using dates. So it helps you precissely not having to specify timezones in each part. Althought using serverTimeZone parameter is a workaround, and meanwhile the patch is released, you can try better correcting the code by yourself as I did.

• If it's a standalone application, you can try simply to add a corrected com/mysql/jdbc/TimeUtil class to your code and be careful with jar loading order. This can help: https://owenou.com/2010/07/20/patching-with-class-shadowing-and-maven.html

• If it's a web application, the easier solution is to create your own mysql-connector-java-5.1.37-patched.jar, substituting the .class directly into the original jar.