public static String readTextFile(String fileName, String defaultContents) throws IOException {
    return loadTextFile(fileName, defaultContents);
  }

  public static String readTextFile(File file) {
    try {
      return readTextFile(file, null);
    } catch (IOException e) { throw new RuntimeException(e); }
  }
  
  public static String readTextFile(File file, String defaultContents) throws IOException {
    return loadTextFile(file.getPath(), defaultContents);
  }

Began life as a copy of #2000562