static boolean equal(Object o1, Object o2) {
    if (o1 == null) {
      return o2 == null;

    } else {
      return o1.equals(o2);
    }
  }
Returns whether or not two objects are {@linkplain Object#equals equals} taking
<code>null</code> into account.
geode-core/src/main/java/org/apache/geode/internal/cache/xmlcache/DiskStoreAttributesCreation.java