NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra · error · LoadException

Cannot add Trace to a program

Error message

Cannot add Trace to a program

What it means

TenetPlusPlusLoader.loadInto(Program, ImporterSettings) is overridden to always throw LoadException('Cannot add Trace to a program'). A Tenet++ trace becomes its own Trace domain object and cannot be merged into an existing Program; this entry point is intentionally disabled.

Source

Thrown at Ghidra/Debug/Debugger-importers/src/main/java/ghidra/app/util/opinion/TenetPlusPlusLoader.java:346

			final long flushDone = System.currentTimeMillis();

			settings.log()
					.appendMsg("%d ms to load trace | %d ms to flush cache | %d ms total time"
							.formatted(loadDone - start, flushDone - loadDone, flushDone - start));

			return new LoadResults<>(new Loaded<>(trace, settings));
		}
		finally {
			if (program != null) {
				program.release(this);
			}
		}
	}

	@Override
	public void loadInto(final Program program, final ImporterSettings settings)
			throws IOException, LoadException, CancelledException {
		throw new LoadException("Cannot add Trace to a program");
	}

	private Trace loadTrace(final ByteProvider provider, final String name, final Program program,
			final Object consumer, final MessageLog log, final TaskMonitor monitor)
			throws LanguageNotFoundException, IOException, CancelledException {

		this.program = program;
		final Language lang = program.getLanguage();
		defaultSpace = lang.getAddressFactory().getDefaultAddressSpace();

		final Trace trace = new DBTrace(name, program.getCompilerSpec(), consumer);
		final TraceObjectManager om = trace.getObjectManager();

		try (Transaction tx = trace.openTransaction("Import Tenet++ Trace: %s".formatted(name));
				BypassWriteCache bypass = om.withoutWriteCache()) {

			om.createRootObject(TENET_PLUS_PLUS_SESSION_SCHEMA);

View on GitHub (pinned to d5f144c24d)

Solutions

1. Use load() which creates a new Trace domain object rather than loadInto().
2. In a generic dispatcher, skip trace loaders for the loadInto path or detect and handle the LoadException contract.
3. Document that Tenet++ traces are imported as standalone Trace objects.

if (loader instanceof TenetPlusPlusLoader) {
    // use load() to create a new Trace; never loadInto()
}

try {
    loader.loadInto(program, settings);
} catch (LoadException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("Cannot add Trace to a program")) {
        // fall back to load() to create a standalone Trace
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: A generic importer or script calls loadInto on TenetPlusPlusLoader instead of load(). The override makes the unsupported operation fail fast.

Common situations: Loader-dispatch harness that assumes loadInto works for every loader; misusing the trace loader in a merge-into-program workflow.

Related errors

• Cannot add Trace to a program
• No progam to associate with trace was given
• Encountered too many errors with this trace
• No progam to associate with trace was given
• Selected file is not a program

AI-assisted analysis of NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra@d5f144c24d (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b3c633d2406d1922. Report an issue: GitHub.