1138760 - crash in java.lang.NullPointerException: at org.mozilla.gecko.GeckoSharedPrefs.forApp(GeckoSharedPrefs.java)

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox for Android Graveyard :: Search Activity, defect)

Description

[Kevin Brosnan [Ex-Mozilla]]

This bug was filed from the Socorro interface and is 
report bp-726f6764-53ed-472f-8b2c-b94762150224.
=============================================================

https://crash-stats.mozilla.com/report/list?signature=java.lang.NullPointerException%3A+at+org.mozilla.gecko.GeckoSharedPrefs.forApp%28GeckoSharedPrefs.java%29&product=FennecAndroid&query_type=contains

java.lang.NullPointerException
	at org.mozilla.gecko.GeckoSharedPrefs.forApp(GeckoSharedPrefs.java:86)
	at org.mozilla.gecko.GeckoSharedPrefs.forApp(GeckoSharedPrefs.java:74)
	at org.mozilla.search.providers.SearchEngineManager$2.run(SearchEngineManager.java:148)
	at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:725)
	at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:92)
	at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137)
	at org.mozilla.gecko.util.GeckoBackgroundThread.run(GeckoBackgroundThread.java:43)

Comment 1

[:Margaret Leibovic]

Looking at this briefly, it seems like we're passing in a null context here:
http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/mobile/android/search/java/org/mozilla/search/providers/SearchEngineManager.java#200

Comment 2

[Mark Finkle (:mfinkle) (use needinfo?)]

I wonder if the SearchEngineManager has been destroyed before the Distribution callback is fired. The onDestroy method sets the distribution, context and other stuff to null. I suppose we could check for a null distribution or context in the main callback methods, with distributionNotFound seems to be the most common entry point for this crash.

Comment 3

[Michael Comella (:mcomella) [NI reported issues only: ex-Mozilla]]

When we destroy the SearchEngineManager, we null the reference to distribution but we don't remove the listeners we set (which refers back to the SearchEngineManager). This is a memory leak, at the very least, and should be fixed.

It would be a good idea to investigate 1) why this situation is occurring and 2) if fixing this memory leak will just cause another failure down the line (e.g. another NPE).

Comment 4

[Michael Comella (:mcomella) [NI reported issues only: ex-Mozilla]]

Nevermind comment 3 – they're not listeners.

To be explicit, I'm too unfamiliar with this code and I have other things to do so I'm going to stop diving in now.

Comment 5

[alex_mayorga]

¡Hola!

This just bite me so dropping the crash report here FWIW...

https://crash-stats.mozilla.com/report/index/bp-63de74a2-eecc-4865-af8e-89bcb2160210

¡Gracias!

Comment 6

[:Margaret Leibovic]

Hey Alex! Thanks for the report. Do you remember what you were doing when you hit this crash? It looks like this is happening in the search activity.

Comment 7

[alex_mayorga]

¡Hola Margaret!

The steps as far as I recall involved a long press on the center (circle) button on the main screen of an Amazon Fire, this pops up a white on orange magnifying glass, moving the finger to this icon results in the crash.

I can try to confirm these steps later today if you want me to.

¡Gracias!
Alex

Comment 8

[Jan Henning [:JanH]]

This is an ex-Search Activity now (bug 1221344).