Exceptions swallowed in Phase Listeners

Question

To frame this question.. we have implemented phase listeners at our company to perform "framework-type" tasks within all of our applications. These phase listeners perform critical tasks.
We just received a JSF fixpack from IBM and suddenly, all of the exceptions that occur in the phase listeners are eaten/ignored.
When we questioned what was going on, they pointed us to this part of the 1.2 JSF Spec:
Section 11.3. PhaseListener
The beforePhase() method is called before the standard processing for a particular phase is performed, while the afterPhase() method is called after the standard processing has been completed. The JSF implementation must guarantee that, if beforePhase() has been called on a particular instance, then afterPhase() will also be called, regardless of any Exceptions that may have been thrown during the actual execution of the lifecycle phase. For example, let�s say there are three PhaseListeners attached to the lifecycle: A, B, and C, in that order. A.beforePhase() is called, and executes successfully. B.beforePhase() is called and throws an exception. Any exceptions thrown during the beforePhase() listeners must be caught, logged, and swallowed. In this example, C.beforePhase() must not be called. hen the actual lifecycle phase executes. Any exceptions thrown during the execution of the actual phase must not be swallowed. When the lifecycle phase exits, due to an exeception or normal termination, he afterPhase() listeners must be called in reverse order from the beforePhase() listeners in the following manner. C.afterPhase() must not be called, since C.beforePhase() was not called. B.afterPhase() must not be called, since B.beforePhase() did not execute successfully. A.afterPhase() must be called. Any exceptions thrown during the afterPhase() liseteners must be caught, logged, and swallowed.
So now even if an exception occurs in the phase listsners, we never know about it and they Faces LIfecycle continues.
Can someone on the Spec team address this? We have critical code in our phase listeners, and if an exception occurs, the app shouldn't continue. Help!!

Answer 1

What I really am looking for from someone on the expert group is an explanation of this part of the spec, as well as how we as developers should deal with critical exceptions that occur in phase listeners.
Right now we have implemented Servlet container-level exception handling that catches the exceptions today, logs them and routes the user to an error page. With the 1.2 spec, the error will occur, but the app continues on as if nothing went wrong. What are the alternatives?
It boggles my mind that exceptions should ever be swallowed. If that's the case, then I think what the spec is saying is that you shouldn't put any code in the phase listeners since JSF will continue on regardless of what occurs.
Since no developers have replied to this, I assume that nobody else has code in phase listsners? Maybe I'm the only one who's alarmed by this?
Dave