VraNgPull does not always use UTF-8 encoding

[Indy-rbo]

Description

It seems that Encoding Charset is not explicitly set to StandardCharsets.UTF_8 when dealing with files (at least in VraNgPull), which makes it dependent on some system settings.

Executing the following:

public class test {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println(System.getProperty("file.encoding"));
  }
}

Me: UTF-8
Colleague: Cp1252

We have the following form style:

#restartWarningText {
  border: 1px solid #ffb92e;
  border-radius: 4px;
  padding: 10px;
  background: #fff2d6;
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
}

#restartWarningText::before {
  content: '⚠️';
  float: left;
  margin: 5px 10px 5px 5px;
  font-size: 1rem;
}

#sizingInfoText {
  border: 1px solid #73c4e0;
  border-radius: 4px;
  padding: 10px;
  background: #e6f5fa;
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
}

#sizingInfoText::before {
  content: 'ℹ️';
  float: left;
  margin: 5px 10px 5px 5px;
  font-size: 1rem;
}

When I pull this it becomes

"#restartWarningText {    border: 1px solid #ffb92e;    border-radius: 4px;    padding: 10px;    background: #fff2d6;    display: flex;    align-items: center;}#restartWarningText::before {    content: \u0027⚠️\u0027;    float: left;    margin: 5px 10px 5px 5px;    font-size: 1rem;}#sizingInfoText {    border: 1px solid #73c4e0;    border-radius: 4px;    padding: 10px;    background: #e6f5fa;    display: flex;    align-items: center;}#sizingInfoText::before {    content: \u0027ℹ️\u0027;    float: left;    margin: 5px 10px 5px 5px;    font-size: 1rem;}"

but when a colleague pulls, he receives:

"#restartWarningText {    border: 1px solid #ffb92e;    border-radius: 4px;    padding: 10px;    background: #fff2d6;    display: flex;    align-items: center;}#restartWarningText::before {    content: \u0027??\u0027;    float: left;    margin: 5px 10px 5px 5px;    font-size: 1rem;}#sizingInfoText {    border: 1px solid #73c4e0;    border-radius: 4px;    padding: 10px;    background: #e6f5fa;    display: flex;    align-items: center;}#sizingInfoText::before {    content: \u0027??\u0027;    float: left;    margin: 5px 10px 5px 5px;    font-size: 1rem;}"

Steps to Reproduce

1. Set the initial CSS as form style
2. Pull the form
3. Encoding is either successful or fails, depending on if UTF-8 encoding is picked or not.

Preconditions: Encoding chosen by the file.encoding system property is Cp1252

Expected behavior: It to use the correct encoding on all systems.

Actual behavior: Some systems use their platform specific encoding

Reproduces how often: 100%

Component/s: Probably common/artifact-manager or maven/plugins/vra-ng

Affects Build/s: All?

Environment

Client

• Build Tools for VMware Aria Version: 4.5.0
• OS Version:
  • Mine:

Edition	Windows 11 Pro
Version	24H2
Installed on	‎03/‎10/‎2024
OS build	26100.4349
Experience	Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.107.0

• Colleague:

Edition	Windows 11 Pro
Version	24H2
Installed on	‎16-‎1-‎2025
OS build	26100.4652
Experience	Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.128.0

Server

• vRealize Automation Version: 8.18.1
• vRealize Orchestrator Version: 8.18.1

Additional Context

This should probably either be explicitly set in the Build Tools, or instructions on how to set the system file.encoding property to UTF-8 should be provided in the README.md.

[Indy-rbo]

As a workaround, doing the following worked for my colleague:

$env:JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS='-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8'

Or persistently:

[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS", "-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8", [System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::User)

[VenelinBakalov]

@Indy-rbo I saw another potential workaround but haven't tried it - to add -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 in the maven command, e.g.:
mvn vra-ng:pull -Ptest -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8

[Indy-rbo]

@VenelinBakalov we tried that initially, but it didn't seem to work. Pasting it as is, Powershell or Maven can't handle the . in the flag name so it errors about an unknown lifecycle.

If we put it inside a string, the value doesn't seem to have any effect (e.g.: mvn vra-ng:pull -Pdev02 '-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8'). For us, so far only the JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS method made a difference.

[VenelinBakalov]

@Indy-rbo I have an idea on how this can be fixed but i have issues reproducing this locally on mac and I wanted to test if the fix is working reliably.
I have added a catalog item with your CSS imported. This is what I get during pull:

I have adding the following line in my .zshrc profile:
export JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS="-Dfile.encoding=Cp1252"

After running java -XshowSettings:properties -version I see the following line:

Property settings:
    file.encoding = Cp1252

Any idea what else I might be missing?

[Indy-rbo]

Hi @VenelinBakalov , sorry I have no idea what is missing.
This might be related to some difference between Windows and Mac?

[VenelinBakalov]

@Indy-rbo from what I understand this could potentially affect other pull operations related to forms, css, etc.
Since I cannot fully test it I was thinking - maybe I could create a branch and push a fix only for the custom form. Then you could possibly pull the branch locally and try to build the snapshot and run the pull on your environment to confirm whether it is working (or your colleagues env) and if it is working I can proceed with inspecting other potentially affected elements and open an official pr.

[Indy-rbo]

Hi @VenelinBakalov sorry I missed this notification.
That sounds good, we're able to test local builds when a branch is available

[VenelinBakalov]

@Indy-rbo , that would be great, I added specific encoding in the places I found related to pull operation, I also updated some push-related parts just in case.
It would be great if you could also run a push operation.

These are my findings so far:
#923

[Indy-rbo]

@VenelinBakalov, I made a local build of the /792-set-charset-during-write-operations-in-vra-ng branch.
My colleague tested it. Oddly his default file encoding has switched to UTF-8, but he forced it back to Cp1252 with the JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS.

This solution appears to work correctly (push and pull)! To verify we also checked that is indeed still broken on the current release.