Strange compiler difference between Eclipse and javac

Question

The following snippet (abstracted from real-world code) compiles and runs in Eclipse.

package1/Outer.java:

package package1;

import package1.Outer.Mid.Inner;
import package2.Bar;

public class Outer {
    final Mid mid = new Mid();

    public Outer() {
        mid.setInner(new Inner() {
            @Override public void foo() {
                System.out.println("In Outer.foo()");
            }
        });
    }

    public static class Mid implements Bar {
        private Inner inner;

        public void setInner(Inner inner) {
            this.inner = inner;
        }

        public Inner getInner() {
            return this.inner;
        }

        @Override
        public void bar() {}

        interface Inner {
            void foo();
        }
    }

}

package2/Bar.java:

package package2;

public interface Bar {
    void bar();
}

However, it fails with this error when compiling using javac:

package1\Outer.java:31: cannot find symbol
symbol  : class Bar
location: class package1.Outer
        public static class Mid implements Bar {
                                           ^
package1\Outer.java:42: method does not override or implement a method from a supertype
                @Override
                ^
2 errors

Now, if I switch the order of the import statements, like so:

import package2.Bar;
import package1.Outer.Mid.Inner;

...then it compiles in both Eclipse and javac. Clearly the order of the import statements seems to matter...but why?

Notes:

• I tested this using Java JDK 1.6.0_30, and also Java JDK 1.7.0_21. If this is a bug that has since been fixed, that would be good to know.
• It seems strange to me that the package1.Outer.Mid.Inner import is even necessary, given the Inner interface is nested within Outer.java, but both Eclipse and javac seem to require it
• I discovered this problem trying to run an Ant build of production code that had a similar structure. Everything was building fine in Eclipse, but the Ant script just refused to go through.

Answer 1

This looks like a bug, as reported on Oracle's bug database here.

According to the JLS §7.5, the order of import-statements should not matter.