MuntashirAkon/AppManager · error · org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParserException

Invalid tag inside <set>: ${tagName}

Error message

Invalid tag inside <set>: ${tagName}

What it means

When reading a persisted StringSet shared preference (a <set> XML block), readSharedPref expects every child start tag inside <set> to be <string>. Any other tag name is a malformed persistence file, so an XmlPullParserException 'Invalid tag inside <set>' is thrown.

Source

Thrown at app/src/main/java/io/github/muntashirakon/AppManager/sharedpref/SharedPrefsUtil.java:84

                        break;
                    case TAG_LONG:
                        if (attrValue != null) {
                            prefs.put(attrName, Long.valueOf(attrValue));
                        }
                        break;
                    case TAG_STRING:
                        prefs.put(attrName, parser.nextText());
                        break;
                    case TAG_SET:
                        Set<String> stringSet = new HashSet<>();
                        prefs.put(attrName, stringSet);
                        // Grab all strings
                        event = parser.next();
                        tagName = parser.getName();
                        while (event != XmlPullParser.END_TAG || !Objects.equals(tagName, TAG_SET)) {
                            if (event == XmlPullParser.START_TAG) {
                                if (!Objects.equals(tagName, TAG_STRING)) {
                                    throw new XmlPullParserException("Invalid tag inside <set>: " + tagName);
                                }
                                stringSet.add(parser.nextText());
                            }
                            event = parser.next();
                            tagName = parser.getName();
                        }
                        break;
                    default:
                        throw new XmlPullParserException("Invalid tag: " + tagName);
                }
            }
            event = parser.next();
        }
        return prefs;
    }

    public static void writeSharedPref(@NonNull OutputStream os, @NonNull Map<String, Object> hashMap)
            throws IOException {

View on GitHub (pinned to 0152f468fc)

Solutions

1. Fix the XML so <set> contains only <string> children
2. Validate/normalize the prefs file before parsing: reject or sanitize unknown tags inside <set>
3. Re-export the preferences from the original app rather than hand-editing
4. Catch XmlPullParserException in import flow and surface a clear 'malformed preferences file' error

Example fix

// before
if (!Objects.equals(tagName, TAG_STRING)) {
    throw new XmlPullParserException("Invalid tag inside <set>: " + tagName);
}
// after
if (!Objects.equals(tagName, TAG_STRING)) {
    Log.w(TAG, "Skipping unsupported tag inside <set>: " + tagName);
    event = parser.next();
    continue;
}

// pre-validate prefs XML
XmlPullParser p = Xml.newPullParser();
p.setInput(reader);
// walk and assert: inside <set>, every START_TAG name equals "string"

try {
    value = SharedPrefsUtil.readSharedPref(...);
} catch (XmlPullParserException e) {
    Log.w(TAG, "Malformed prefs file: " + e.getMessage());
    value = defaultValue; // skip the bad <set> entry
} catch (IOException e) {
    value = defaultValue;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Parsing an exported/shared preferences XML whose <set> element contains a non-<string> child (e.g. <null/>, <int/>, or a typo'd tag), typically from hand-editing or a foreign/mismatched prefs file format.

Common situations: Importing preferences exported by another app or older version, XML edited manually inserting wrong tags, or corrupted partial writes truncated inside a <set> block.

Understand the failure class

Background: Schema validation failed / invalid input schema: payload rejected because its shape doesn't match the expected schema — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• e
• "manifest" has duplicate "application" tags.
• Failed to load rules from misc.
• Package cannot be parsed
• {parserErrors} syntax errors during parsing and/or lexing.

AI-assisted analysis of MuntashirAkon/AppManager@0152f468fc (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e06115ff0cf4bd3b. Report an issue: GitHub.