Variable used in lambda expression should be final or effectively final

A final variable means that it can be instantiated only one time. in Java you can't reassign non-final local variables in lambda as well as in anonymous inner classes.

You can refactor your code with the old for-each loop:

private TimeZone extractCalendarTimeZoneComponent(Calendar cal,TimeZone calTz) {
    try {
        for(Component component : cal.getComponents().getComponents("VTIMEZONE")) {
        VTimeZone v = (VTimeZone) component;
           v.getTimeZoneId();
           if(calTz==null) {
               calTz = TimeZone.getTimeZone(v.getTimeZoneId().getValue());
           }
        }
    } catch (Exception e) {
        log.warn("Unable to determine ical timezone", e);
    }
    return null;
}

Even if I don't get the sense of some pieces of this code:

• you call a v.getTimeZoneId(); without using its return value
• with the assignment calTz = TimeZone.getTimeZone(v.getTimeZoneId().getValue()); you don't modify the originally passed calTz and you don't use it in this method
• You always return null, why don't you set void as return type?

Hope also these tips helps you to improve.

Although other answers prove the requirement, they don't explain why the requirement exists.

The JLS mentions why in §15.27.2:

The restriction to effectively final variables prohibits access to dynamically-changing local variables, whose capture would likely introduce concurrency problems.

To lower risk of bugs, they decided to ensure captured variables are never mutated.

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This also applies for anonymous inner classes