Actual behavior:

When using a @UniqueConstraint with a column name that does not exist, Hibernate throws a NullPointerException:

java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.hibernate.mapping.Constraint$ColumnComparator.compare(Constraint.java:134)
at org.hibernate.mapping.Constraint$ColumnComparator.compare(Constraint.java:130)
at java.util.TimSort.countRunAndMakeAscending(TimSort.java:324)
at java.util.TimSort.sort(TimSort.java:189)
at java.util.TimSort.sort(TimSort.java:173)
at java.util.Arrays.sort(Arrays.java:659)
at org.hibernate.mapping.Constraint.generateName(Constraint.java:82)
at org.hibernate.cfg.Configuration.buildUniqueKeyFromColumnNames(Configuration.java:1593)
at org.hibernate.cfg.Configuration.secondPassCompile(Configuration.java:1416)
at org.hibernate.cfg.Configuration.buildSessionFactory(Configuration.java:1777)
at org.hibernate.ejb.EntityManagerFactoryImpl.<init>(EntityManagerFactoryImpl.java:96)
at org.hibernate.ejb.Ejb3Configuration.buildEntityManagerFactory(Ejb3Configuration.java:914)
at org.hibernate.ejb.Ejb3Configuration.buildEntityManagerFactory(Ejb3Configuration.java:899)
at org.hibernate.ejb.HibernatePersistence.createEntityManagerFactory(HibernatePersistence.java:59)
at javax.persistence.Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory(Persistence.java:63)
at javax.persistence.Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory(Persistence.java:47)
at test.FailingTest.test(FailingTest.java:10)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod$1.runReflectiveCall(FrameworkMethod.java:47)
at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12)
at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod.invokeExplosively(FrameworkMethod.java:44)
at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.InvokeMethod.evaluate(InvokeMethod.java:17)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runLeaf(ParentRunner.java:271)
at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:70)
at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:50)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.run(ParentRunner.java:238)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:63)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:236)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$000(ParentRunner.java:53)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:229)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:309)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit4.runner.JUnit4TestReference.run(JUnit4TestReference.java:50)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.TestExecution.run(TestExecution.java:38)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:467)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:683)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.run(RemoteTestRunner.java:390)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.main(RemoteTestRunner.java:197)

Expected behavior:

A domain-specific exception is thrown (i.e., some HibernateException with a message describing which column name references a non-existing column).