java.lang.NullPointerException when running zlmmirror

- When zlmmirror-ing the OES2-SP2-updates, it was repeatedly observed that the mirroring process ended with the following:

*    Found bundle "<bundle_name"
* Retrieving information for the local server bundle "<bundle_name>"
java.lang.NullPointerException
       at com.novell.zenworks.zlmmirror.server.ZLMLocalServer.removePackages(ZLMLocalServer.java:968)
       at com.novell.zenworks.zlmmirror.server.ZLMLocalServer.deselectExistingPackages(ZLMLocalServer.java:806)
       at com.novell.zenworks.zlmmirror.server.CatalogProcessor.processBundle(CatalogProcessor.java:318)
       at com.novell.zenworks.zlmmirror.server.CatalogProcessor.processCatalog(CatalogProcessor.java:135)
       at com.novell.zenworks.zlmmirror.server.ZLMLocalServer.update(ZLMLocalServer.java:774)
       at com.novell.zenworks.zlmmirror.MirrorSession.mirror(MirrorSession.java:525)
       at com.novell.zenworks.zlmmirror.MirrorSession.executeCommand(MirrorSession.java:489)
       at com.novell.zenworks.zlmmirror.MirrorSession.execute(MirrorSession.java:284)
       at com.novell.zenworks.zlmmirror.MirrorSession.executeMirrorSession(ZLMMirror.java:294)
       at com.novell.zenworks.zlmmirror.MirrorSession.main(ZLMMirror.java:152)

- The channel being mirrored contained no updates.

- This occurs regardless of the supported, linux distribution zlmmirror is running on.

This is fixed in ZLM 7.3 Interim Release 2 - see KB 7003346 "Updates to Novell ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management" which can be found atNovell Support

Workarounds
Until the code can upgraded to ZLM 7.3 Interim Release 2, there are 2, optional workarounds:

1) do not mirror the empty channel (i.e. take it out of your mirroring configuration)
however, if this channel is a dependency for mirroring another channel, it may be automatically added back.

2) if one has control of the channel, add at least one update to that channel.

Root Cause
In version 7.3 & 7.3ir1, zlmmirror expects to find at least a catalog and a minimum of one update in the channel.  If the channel is empty, it will java except.  ZLM 7.3 IR2 (and later)