diff --git a/mesonbuild/compilers/compilers.py b/mesonbuild/compilers/compilers.py
index 67552ee36..4b48e3146 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/compilers/compilers.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/compilers/compilers.py
@@ -1091,8 +1091,9 @@ class Compiler(metaclass=abc.ABCMeta):
     def get_werror_args(self) -> T.List[str]:
         return []
 
+    @abc.abstractmethod
     def get_optimization_args(self, optimization_level: str) -> T.List[str]:
-        raise EnvironmentError('{} does not implement get_optimization_args'.format(self.id))
+        pass
 
     def get_module_incdir_args(self) -> T.Tuple[str, ...]:
         raise EnvironmentError('{} does not implement get_module_incdir_args'.format(self.id))
diff --git a/mesonbuild/compilers/java.py b/mesonbuild/compilers/java.py
index 895173eb3..77e1a9b6f 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/compilers/java.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/compilers/java.py
@@ -99,3 +99,6 @@ class JavaCompiler(BasicLinkerIsCompilerMixin, Compiler):
 
     def needs_static_linker(self) -> bool:
         return False
+
+    def get_optimization_args(self, optimization_level: str) -> T.List[str]:
+        return []
diff --git a/run_unittests.py b/run_unittests.py
index db61ca6b1..7ddf17dee 100755
--- a/run_unittests.py
+++ b/run_unittests.py
@@ -360,7 +360,7 @@ class InternalTests(unittest.TestCase):
                          stat.S_IRGRP | stat.S_IXGRP)
 
     def test_compiler_args_class_none_flush(self):
-        cc = mesonbuild.compilers.CCompiler([], 'fake', False, MachineChoice.HOST, mock.Mock())
+        cc = mesonbuild.compilers.ClangCCompiler([], 'fake', MachineChoice.HOST, False, mock.Mock())
         a = cc.compiler_args(['-I.'])
         #first we are checking if the tree construction deduplicates the correct -I argument
         a += ['-I..']
@@ -383,8 +383,8 @@ class InternalTests(unittest.TestCase):
         a += ['-Ifirst']
         self.assertEqual(a, ['-Ifirst', '-Isecond', '-Ithird'])
 
-    def test_compiler_args_class(self):
-        cc = mesonbuild.compilers.CCompiler([], 'fake', False, MachineChoice.HOST, mock.Mock())
+    def test_compiler_args_class_clike(self):
+        cc = mesonbuild.compilers.ClangCCompiler([], 'fake', MachineChoice.HOST, False, mock.Mock())
         # Test that empty initialization works
         a = cc.compiler_args()
         self.assertEqual(a, [])