DateTimeHelper.parse NullPointerException

[iwakeh]

The parse method of DateFormat throws a NullPointerE when presented with
a null argument.

During the initial setup of my vagrant-test-environment this happend about
five to ten times stopping the entire process.

Find the mini-patch attached.
(I will include this change also with the bigger patch suggestions for logging etc.)

I think such problems should be logged in addition.
Do you agree?

[iwakeh]

And, I would suggest a constant for the return value -1L,
e.g. something like NO_TIME = -1L;.
I'll add that to the other patches, if you don't object.

[iwakeh]

Better see the suggestion in the logging patch #12882.

[karsten]

Or can you submit a single patch for the change here, independent of #12882?

[iwakeh]

this should be logging free.

[karsten]

This has been merged as part of #12882.

I just ran the cronjob in a freshly installed Vagrant box and didn't encounter any problems with null being passed to that function. If you still have the logs, or if you ever run into those cases again, please re-open this ticket, so that we can fix those calls.