--- a/src/share/classes/sun/net/www/protocol/file/FileURLConnection.java	Mon Aug 23 08:18:08 2010 -0700
+++ b/src/share/classes/sun/net/www/protocol/file/FileURLConnection.java	Mon Aug 23 21:59:13 2010 +0100
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
     String filename;
     boolean isDirectory = false;
     boolean exists = false;
-    List files;
+    List<String> files;
 
     long length = -1;
     long lastModified = 0;
@@ -81,7 +81,10 @@
                 filename = file.toString();
                 isDirectory = file.isDirectory();
                 if (isDirectory) {
-                    files = (List) Arrays.asList(file.list());
+                    String[] fileList = file.list();
+                    if (fileList == null)
+                        throw new FileNotFoundException(filename + " exists, but is not accessible");
+                    files = Arrays.<String>asList(fileList);
                 } else {
 
                     is = new BufferedInputStream(new FileInputStream(filename));
@@ -197,7 +200,7 @@
                 Collections.sort(files, Collator.getInstance());
 
                 for (int i = 0 ; i < files.size() ; i++) {
-                    String fileName = (String)files.get(i);
+                    String fileName = files.get(i);
                     buf.append(fileName);
                     buf.append("\n");
                 }

--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/test/sun/net/www/protocol/file/DirPermissionDenied.java	Mon Aug 23 21:59:13 2010 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
+ *
+ * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+ * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation.
+ *
+ * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+ * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
+ * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
+ * accompanied this code).
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
+ * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+ * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+ *
+ * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
+ * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
+ * questions.
+ */
+
+import java.net.URL;
+import java.net.URLConnection;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+public class DirPermissionDenied {
+    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
+        URL url = new URL("file:" + args[0]);
+
+        try {
+            URLConnection uc = url.openConnection();
+            uc.connect();
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            // OK
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            throw new RuntimeException("Failed " + e);
+        }
+
+        try {
+            URLConnection uc = url.openConnection();
+            uc.getInputStream();
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            // OK
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            throw new RuntimeException("Failed " + e);
+        }
+
+        try {
+            URLConnection uc = url.openConnection();
+            uc.getContentLengthLong();
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            // OK
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            throw new RuntimeException("Failed " + e);
+        }
+    }
+}

--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/test/sun/net/www/protocol/file/DirPermissionDenied.sh	Mon Aug 23 21:59:13 2010 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+# DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
+#
+# This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+# under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
+# published by the Free Software Foundation.
+#
+# This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+# ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
+# version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
+# accompanied this code).
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
+# 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+# Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+#
+# Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
+# or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
+# questions.
+#
+
+#
+# @test
+# @bug 6977851
+# @summary NPE from FileURLConnection.connect
+# @build DirPermissionDenied
+# @run shell DirPermissionDenied.sh
+
+TESTDIR="${TESTCLASSES}/DirPermissionDeniedDirectory"
+echo ${TESTDIR}
+
+rm -rf ${TESTDIR}
+mkdir -p ${TESTDIR}
+chmod 333 ${TESTDIR}
+
+$TESTJAVA/bin/java -classpath $TESTCLASSES DirPermissionDenied ${TESTDIR}
+result=$?
+rm -rf ${TESTDIR}
+exit $result