MuntashirAkon/AppManager · error · IllegalArgumentException

Value is too large for byte field.

Error message

Value ${value} is too large for ${length} byte field.

What it means

Thrown by TarUtils.formatLongBinary when a numeric value cannot fit into a fixed-length TAR header field written in base-256 (binary) encoding. The field has one bit reserved for sign, so only (length-1)*8 bits are usable; values >= 2^((length-1)*8) cannot be represented. This is a hard limit of the TAR header layout, not a bug.

Solutions

1. Ensure the value fits the field: use POSIX/PAX (TarArchiveOutputStream with BIGFILEMODE POSIX) so large sizes go to pax headers instead of binary fields
2. Verify the file/entry size before writing: reject or split entries whose size >= 2^((length-1)*8)
3. Check that you are not manually calling formatLongOctalOrBinaryBytes with a too-short length; pass the full field length from the header spec
4. Catch IllegalArgumentException and surface a clear 'entry too large for selected tar format' message

Example fix

// before
TarArchiveOutputStream out = new TarArchiveOutputStream(fos); // BIGFILEMODE default, 4-byte binary
// after
TarArchiveOutputStream out = new TarArchiveOutputStream(fos, 1024, TarArchiveOutputStream.BIGFILEMODE_POSIX); // large values stored in PAX headers

int length = 8; // field length from header spec
long max = 1L << ((length - 1) * 8);
if (value < 0 || value >= max) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Value " + value + " does not fit a " + length + "-byte tar field; use PAX/POSIX mode");
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling TarArchiveOutputStream.putArchiveEntry / closeArchiveEntry with an entry size, or any header numeric field, that when formatted via formatLongOctalOrBinaryBytes exceeds max = 1L << ((length-1)*8) for the chosen field length.

Common situations: Writing tar entries larger than 8 GiB with a 4-byte binary field, or restoring headers with truncated field lengths; creating archives with GNU big-number fields mis-sized by older tooling; Long.MIN_VALUE edge case where Math.abs overflows negative.

Understand the failure class

Background: "value must be between 0 and 1" / "out of range" / "must not be negative" errors: fixing range-validation failures across open-source libraries — this error's family across 42 libraries.

Related errors

• APK files backup is requested but no APK files have been…
• APK files backup is requested but no APK files have been…
• ' ' is too big ( > ).
• ' ' is too long ( > bytes)
• Major device number is out of range: + devNo

AI-assisted analysis of MuntashirAkon/AppManager@0152f468fc (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/97e9b62ae16b2bba. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at app/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/compress/archivers/tar/TarUtils.java:509

        if (length < 9) {
            formatLongBinary(value, buf, offset, length, negative);
        } else {
            formatBigIntegerBinary(value, buf, offset, length, negative);
        }

        buf[offset] = (byte) (negative ? 0xff : 0x80);
        return offset + length;
    }

    private static void formatLongBinary(final long value, final byte[] buf,
                                         final int offset, final int length,
                                         final boolean negative) {
        final int bits = (length - 1) * 8;
        final long max = 1L << bits;
        long val = Math.abs(value); // Long.MIN_VALUE stays Long.MIN_VALUE
        if (val < 0 || val >= max) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Value " + value +
                " is too large for " + length + " byte field.");
        }
        if (negative) {
            val ^= max - 1;
            val++;
            val |= 0xffL << bits;
        }
        for (int i = offset + length - 1; i >= offset; i--) {
            buf[i] = (byte) val;
            val >>= 8;
        }
    }

    private static void formatBigIntegerBinary(final long value, final byte[] buf,
                                               final int offset,
                                               final int length,
                                               final boolean negative) {
        final BigInteger val = BigInteger.valueOf(value);

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