return value of "java.util.function.Function.apply(Object)" is null when attempting to install plugin(s)

[jakeogh]

Eclipse Version: 2024-12 (4.34.0)
Build id: 20241128-0757

While attempting to install PEx_for_Kinetis_3.0.0.zip I get:

An error occurred while collecting items to be installed
session context was:(profile=epp.package.cpp, phase=org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.engine.phases.Collect, operand=, action=).
Cannot invoke "java.lang.Comparable.compareTo(Object)" because the return value of "java.util.function.Function.apply(Object)" is null
Cannot invoke "java.lang.Comparable.compareTo(Object)" because the return value of "java.util.function.Function.apply(Object)" is null

This happens when I launch eclipse as root as well. The prequisite plugin freescale_updater.zip installs without issue. I suspect this problem is not related to the specific plugin, becuase there is a open issue on the old bugtracker with the same error attempting to install a different plugin: https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=583494 (the 2nd comment on that bug is from me).

Attempting the same install on a slightly older Eclipse:
Eclipse Version: 2023-06 (4.28.0)
Build id: 20230608-1333

I get what looks like a related error:

An error occurred while collecting items to be installed
session context was:(profile=epp.package.parallel, phase=org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.engine.phases.Collect, operand=, action=).
Cannot invoke "String.compareTo(String)" because the return value of "org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.metadata.InstallableUnit.getId()" is null
Cannot invoke "String.compareTo(String)" because the return value of "org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.metadata.InstallableUnit.getId()" is null

In both cases, I started with a empty workspace and no other non-default plugins installed. I'm on gentoo-latest. My system JRE is:

$ java --version
openjdk 23.0.1 2024-10-15
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Temurin-23.0.1+11 (build 23.0.1+11)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Temurin-23.0.1+11 (build 23.0.1+11, mixed mode, sharing)

But as the bug notes, I think Eclipse bundles it's own JRE(?)

[laeubi]

Do you see any exceptions (e.g. error log or eclipse log) together with this? Beside this I think it is more a P2 thing than PDE.

Also where one gets this PEx_for_Kinetis_3.0.0.zip from to reproduce the problem?

[jakeogh]

Thanks! PEx_for_Kinetis_3.0.0.zip is contained within the zip file PEx_for_Kinetis_3.0.0_Install_into_Eclipse_4.4_Unzip_me.zip (sha3-256 ca9140183e522567ea1c72a4335ee7ce379d57a4a92dfa376914d463764f4014) which can be obtained from:
https://www.nxp.com/design/design-center/software/development-software/processor-expert-software/processor-expert-software-microcontroller-driver-suite:PE_DRIVER_SUITE?amp;tid=PEH

under the download header PEx-KINETIS-v3.0-PLUGIN-ECLIPSE_4.4

I followed the instructions PEx_for_Kinetis_Installation_Guide.pdf which is also contained within PEx_for_Kinetis_3.0.0_Install_into_Eclipse_4.4_Unzip_me.zip

I'm new to Eclipse, just found the debug CLI options:

$ ./eclipse -consoleLog -debug
<snip>
Starting application: 2037
Application started in : 11266ms

<plugin install attempt starts here>

!SESSION 2024-12-28 22:57:08.014 -----------------------------------------------
eclipse.buildId=4.34.0.20241128-0756
java.version=21.0.5
java.vendor=Eclipse Adoptium
BootLoader constants: OS=linux, ARCH=x86_64, WS=gtk, NL=en
Framework arguments:  -product org.eclipse.epp.package.cpp.product
Command-line arguments:  -os linux -ws gtk -arch x86_64 -product org.eclipse.epp.package.cpp.product -consoleLog -debug

!ENTRY org.eclipse.equinox.p2.metadata.repository 2 0 2024-12-28 22:57:28.177
!MESSAGE Error parsing metadata repository
!SUBENTRY 1 org.eclipse.equinox.p2.core 2 0 2024-12-28 22:57:28.177
!MESSAGE Error in file:/home/cfg/_priv/clients/arizona.edu/ctia/k70_application/eclipse-cpp-2024-12-R-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz_dir/eclipse/p2/org.eclipse.equinox.p2.repository/cache/content-1179742082.jar at line 5213, column 45: Missing required attribute in "unit": id

!ENTRY org.eclipse.equinox.p2.engine 4 4 2024-12-28 22:58:08.909
!MESSAGE An error occurred while collecting items to be installed
!SUBENTRY 1 org.eclipse.equinox.p2.engine 4 0 2024-12-28 22:58:08.910
!MESSAGE session context was:(profile=epp.package.cpp, phase=org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.engine.phases.Collect, operand=, action=).
!SUBENTRY 1 org.eclipse.equinox.p2.engine 4 0 2024-12-28 22:58:08.910
!MESSAGE Cannot invoke "java.lang.Comparable.compareTo(Object)" because the return value of "java.util.function.Function.apply(Object)" is null
!STACK 0
java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "java.lang.Comparable.compareTo(Object)" because the return value of "java.util.function.Function.apply(Object)" is null
        at java.base/java.util.Comparator.lambda$comparing$77a9974f$1(Comparator.java:473)
        at java.base/java.util.Comparator.lambda$thenComparing$36697e65$1(Comparator.java:220)
        at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.metadata.InstallableUnit.compareTo(InstallableUnit.java:129)
        at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.metadata.InstallableUnit.compareTo(InstallableUnit.java:1)
        at java.base/java.util.TreeMap.put(TreeMap.java:849)
        at java.base/java.util.TreeMap.put(TreeMap.java:569)
        at java.base/java.util.TreeSet.add(TreeSet.java:259)
        at java.base/java.util.AbstractCollection.addAll(AbstractCollection.java:338)
        at java.base/java.util.TreeSet.addAll(TreeSet.java:313)
        at java.base/java.util.TreeSet.<init>(TreeSet.java:164)
        at org.eclipse.equinox.p2.engine.ProvisioningContext.getInstallableUnitSources(ProvisioningContext.java:328)
        at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.engine.phases.AuthorityChecker.start(AuthorityChecker.java:87)
        at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.engine.phases.Collect.completePhase(Collect.java:97)
        at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.engine.Phase.postPerform(Phase.java:254)
        at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.engine.Phase.perform(Phase.java:105)
        at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.engine.PhaseSet.perform(PhaseSet.java:65)
        at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.engine.Engine.perform(Engine.java:95)
        at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.engine.Engine.perform(Engine.java:49)
        at org.eclipse.equinox.p2.operations.ProvisioningSession.performProvisioningPlan(ProvisioningSession.java:159)
        at org.eclipse.equinox.p2.operations.ProfileModificationJob.runModal(ProfileModificationJob.java:76)
        at org.eclipse.equinox.p2.operations.ProvisioningJob.run(ProvisioningJob.java:187)
        at org.eclipse.core.internal.jobs.Worker.run(Worker.java:63)

Regarding the error: content-1179742082.jar at line 5213, column 45: Missing required attribute in "unit": id:

$ file cache/content-1179742082.jar
cache/content-1179742082.jar: Java archive data (JAR)

$ cp cache/content-1179742082.jar ~/jar
$ cd ~/jar
$ jar xf content-1179742082.jar 
$ ls
total 1.4M
   0 drwxr-xr-x 2 user user   80 2024-12-28 23:04:53 .
   0 drwxrwxrwt 9 user user  280 2024-12-28 23:04:00 ..
200K -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 200K 2024-12-28 23:04:06 content-1179742082.jar
1.2M -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 1.2M 2015-04-29 18:08:36 content.xml

Looking at line 5213 of content.xml with less there is a null id <unit>:

<unit version='0.0.0' singleton='false'>
    <touchpoint id='null' version='0.0.0'/>
</unit>                                       

Should I re-file under https://github.com/eclipse-equinox/p2?

[jakeogh]

Going back to:
Version: 2023-03 (4.27.0)
Build id: 20230309-1520

The cache/content-1179742082.jar at line 5213, column 45: Missing required attribute in "unit": id error still appears on PEx_for_Kinetis_3.0.0.zip install, but the instillation succeeds.

So the problem appeared between versions 4.27.0 and 4.28.0.

[merks]

Yes, this looks like a p2 problem. Though that being said, it looks more like a problem that the update site is corrupt because it's widely assumed that the ID is non-null. Perhaps the deserializer should omit such things, or map null to "". But then what else should it all do to turn invalid input into not-so-invalid data? Better would be to fix the update site, or add id="" to that file at the point at which it complains if this is some content for which the folks have stopped providing updates.