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It returns a null value, which is

Any ?

- if it never returned (e.g. threw an exception),

Nothing

would be appropriate.

But wouldn't calling

get()

from the returned provider throw an exception, thereby justifying the use of

Nothing

?

The best option IMO would be to make it a method with a generic

T

, since you won't need to cast it when wiring to properties.

fun <T> ProviderFactory.absent(): Provider<T> = providers.provider { null }