97

Attempting to do some work on an Android project I haven't worked on for a couple of months, yet every time I attempt to build the project Eclipse throws up a dialog saying:

'Building workspace' has encountered a problem

Errors occurred during the build.
Errors running builder 'Android Pre Compiler' on project 'XXX'
java.lang.NullPointerException

I'm running Eclipse on a Mac with an Android project build target 4.0.3 (API Level 15) and I've the following versions of things installed

  • Eclipse - 3.7.2
  • Android Development Tools - 21.0.1
  • Android SDK - up to 17

I've already tried a few things, like starting a whole new workspace, installing this 'Subversive SVN JDT Ignore Extensions', upgrading everything, making sure I don't have any files without extensions in my source folder (or anywhere else), ensuring my Java compiler is 1.6 and switching it off and on again.

EDIT

Here's the stack trace from the Eclipse error log for this problem:

java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.internal.build.builders.PreCompilerBuilder.build(PreCompilerBuilder.java:673)
at org.eclipse.core.internal.events.BuildManager$2.run(BuildManager.java:728)
at org.eclipse.core.runtime.SafeRunner.run(SafeRunner.java:42)
at org.eclipse.core.internal.events.BuildManager.basicBuild(BuildManager.java:199)
at org.eclipse.core.internal.events.BuildManager.basicBuild(BuildManager.java:239)
at org.eclipse.core.internal.events.BuildManager$1.run(BuildManager.java:292)
at org.eclipse.core.runtime.SafeRunner.run(SafeRunner.java:42)
at org.eclipse.core.internal.events.BuildManager.basicBuild(BuildManager.java:295)
at org.eclipse.core.internal.events.BuildManager.basicBuildLoop(BuildManager.java:351)
at org.eclipse.core.internal.events.BuildManager.build(BuildManager.java:374)
at org.eclipse.core.internal.resources.Workspace.buildInternal(Workspace.java:513)
at org.eclipse.core.internal.resources.Workspace.build(Workspace.java:432)
at org.eclipse.ui.actions.BuildAction$1.runInWorkspace(BuildAction.java:305)
at org.eclipse.core.internal.resources.InternalWorkspaceJob.run(InternalWorkspaceJob.java:38)
at org.eclipse.core.internal.jobs.Worker.run(Worker.java:54)

And the session data:

eclipse.buildId=M20120208-0800
java.version=1.6.0_37
java.vendor=Apple Inc.
BootLoader constants: OS=macosx, ARCH=x86_64, WS=cocoa, NL=en_US
Framework arguments:  -keyring /Users/onemick/.eclipse_keyring -showlocation
Command-line arguments:  -os macosx -ws cocoa -arch x86_64 -data /Projects/_EclipseWorkspace -keyring /Users/onemick/.eclipse_keyring -showlocation

ANOTHER EDIT

OK, so more searching led me to this page, which suggests that this issue is definitely related to the presence of files without an extension in my project - however I don't know which file and for the life of me I can't find any in that project!

I'd even be happy if someone could explain what this error means and how I might get more debug info about the underlying error.

ROMANIA_engineer
  • 54,432
  • 29
  • 203
  • 199
Mick Byrne
  • 14,394
  • 16
  • 76
  • 91

11 Answers11

107

For those of you who don't want to install preview version of ADT, there is a workaround described here.

  1. Open properties of project in Eclipse then Resources -> Resource filters.
  2. Click the "Add..." button -> Check "Exclude all", "Files and folders", "All children". In the text entry box input ".svn" (without quotes).
  3. Restart Eclipse.

I had the same problem with .git folder, it worked like a charm.

Vadim Kotov
  • 8,084
  • 8
  • 48
  • 62
  • Keep in mind that you need to close and re-open the project after this change. – Tommie Mar 01 '13 at 08:19
  • Please note that ADT 21.1 is out, and this is fixed, so you can just update your tools. – Vadim Kotov Mar 11 '13 at 10:07
  • Please help me get rid of this error I see it worked for all you guys , but i am still getting the same error – user1106888 Sep 30 '14 at 20:23
  • @user1106888 maybe you have another folder with dot in it's name. or some files without extensions, they could produce this error too. – Vadim Kotov Oct 01 '14 at 14:10
  • Similar/related issue: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14188650/android-pre-compiler-error-on-21-0-1-android-sdk – Mr-IDE Jun 27 '17 at 09:17
84

I always hate answering my own questions, but this is a genuine solution.

The 21.0.1 version of the ADT tools has a bug that prevents a project building if you have any files without extensions in them. This is a particular problem for users (like me) using subversion with has extension-less files.

One recommended solution is to install these 'subversive' Eclipse plugins (Help > Install new Software > Work with your Eclipse version site > Expand 'Collaboration' > Choose 'Subversive SVN JDT Ignore Extensions' and 'Subversive SVN Team Provider') but this didn't work for me (I'm on Indigo, perhaps on Juno it works).

The solution is to install the 21.1 preview version of the ADT tools and SDK manager from Google. Clear instructions can be found here and you can read all the background add your voice to the angry mob of developers here.

Infinite Recursion
  • 6,511
  • 28
  • 39
  • 51
Mick Byrne
  • 14,394
  • 16
  • 76
  • 91
  • 4
    This does fix the problem, be sure to update both the SDK *and* the ADT. – Michael Marsella Jan 23 '13 at 20:27
  • I've got eclipse Juno; under Collaboration there is no 'Subversive SVN JDT Ignore Extensions'. Any other ideas? – Aleks G Jan 28 '13 at 17:38
  • @Aleks G - Just install the preview versions of the ADT tools and SDK manager from Google. That actually solves the underlying problem and is not just a workaround. – Mick Byrne Jan 28 '13 at 22:18
  • 1
    @MickByrne Thanks. Apparently, I had to install the "preview" channel of ADT and SDK to solve the problem with Eclipse Juno. Thanks. – Aleks G Jan 29 '13 at 09:44
  • 3
    If after installing the subversive plugins the issue doesn't go away, try this: Remove the project from your workspace, delete the 'bin' and 'gen' folders and make sure they are excluded in svn, then re-add the project to the workspace (File > New > Project, Android Project from Existing Code). If it is now named incorrectly, right click it > Refactor > Rename. This fixed the issue for me. – Glenn Schmidt Jan 30 '13 at 04:05
  • 3
    21.1 is out, so you can upgrade to it if you don't like previews. – Xavier Ducrohet Feb 14 '13 at 03:23
  • 1
    mar13 not a PREVIEW anymore. just go to SDK Manager and upgrade. – tony gil Mar 13 '13 at 18:49
  • I have the same problem with Eclipse Kepler (maybe the latest version of the IDE). The SDK Tools is now 22.2.1, but the problem appears to me. Any suggestions? Thank you. – superpuccio Oct 02 '13 at 13:09
  • 1
    the problem solved with Vadim Kotov answer, that will be the best and simple answer for all – Selva May 06 '15 at 12:50
15

I just restarted Eclipse and the problem got solved.

h2O
  • 544
  • 1
  • 15
  • 38
9

I also had the same problem and i realised that i had closed another project that was connected with the one I was building. Once i opened it everything disappeared.

arniotaki
  • 2,175
  • 2
  • 23
  • 26
  • Thanks, that totally worked. The project import I was using as a library was full of errors, so I closed it (also since I wasn't using its functionality at the time). So since I didn't need it, I disconnected it from my libraries (through Properties -> Android -> select library then click Remove) and the original project errors went away. YAY! – Azurespot Jun 21 '14 at 06:49
2

May be you have close 'appcompact_v7' library to create new file. this solved my problem by open it back

Vinod Joshi
  • 7,696
  • 1
  • 50
  • 51
1

I meet this error,and delete all .svn file, my project can't work,when process 55%

and I find this is an empty res dir in my project,I don't know how it coms,but when delete the empty res dir,my project workd,

so,you should check all your files in your project.

user998953
  • 654
  • 5
  • 16
1

I was also facing the same issue, and wasted a lot of time fixing this, also the above given solutions doesn't work for me. I solved this problem by going to Eclipse -> Help -> Check for updates, and then restarting eclipse after update finished.

Amrit Pal Singh
  • 7,116
  • 7
  • 40
  • 50
1

If you have accidentally closed the library projects that are essential for running your project then just open them in eclipse. This error must vanish.

Ganesh Hegde
  • 63
  • 1
  • 7
0

Another case: I closed the current project (with building error message), discarded the SVN repository in use, recompile:

Building error

I add the repository location:

Building ok!

Seraphim's
  • 12,559
  • 20
  • 88
  • 129
0

For solving this issue I need to run eclipse as administrator

edrian
  • 4,501
  • 5
  • 31
  • 35
-1

i encountered this problem recently and the solutions given above did not work for me. i did not have any files without extensions. It so happened that after adding a new project from existing code, there was a setup error that seems to have messed up the state of eclipse. After that, any project in the workspace that i tried to clean or build was giving the Android Pre-Compiler error with the java.lang.NullPointerException.

i found that the main.xml files inside /res directory was for some reason not being found, even though the file was very much there. Solution was to close all open file perspectives in the Eclipse Java Edit Panel, close all projects, then open project and open the main xml file. After i did that, the Pre-Compiler problem went away.

sri_s
  • 103
  • 1
  • 9