NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra · error · Exception

Could not parse pyproject.toml

Error message

Could not parse pyproject.toml

What it means

Raised as a generic Exception by get_module_dependencies() when its hand-rolled line-by-line parser cannot find a 'dependencies = [' ... ']' block in the module's pyproject.toml. The parser expects the literal line 'dependencies = [' followed by quoted entries and a closing ']'; any deviation (different formatting, TOML table structure, missing block) causes a fall-through to this error.

Source

Thrown at Ghidra/Debug/Debugger-rmi-trace/src/main/py/src/ghidratrace/setuputils.py:65

def get_module_dependencies(name: str) -> List[str]:
    src = ghidra_module_src(name)
    # Can't rely on tomllib until Python 3.11 is minimum requirement.
    # And, I'm in a place where I presume deps are missing, so do this garbage
    # of a parse job.
    with open(f"{src}/pyproject.toml") as project:
        seen_deps = False
        result: List[str] = []
        for l in project.readlines():
            l = l.strip()
            if l == "dependencies = [":
                seen_deps = True
            elif seen_deps and l == ']':
                return [r for r in result if not 'ghidra' in r]
            elif seen_deps:
                if l.endswith(','):  # Last one may not have ,
                    l = l[:-1].strip()
                result.append(l[1:-1])  # Remove 's or "s
        raise Exception("Could not parse pyproject.toml")


def prompt_mitigation(msg: str, prompt: str) -> bool:
    print("""
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
!!!                       INCORRECT OR INCOMPLETE SETUP                      !!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
""")
    print(msg)
    print("")
    print("Select KEEP if you're seeing this in an error dialog.")
    print(f"{prompt} [Y/n] ", end="")
    answer = input()
    return answer == 'y' or answer == 'Y' or answer == ''


def mitigate_by_pip_install(*args: str) -> None:
    import sys

View on GitHub (pinned to d5f144c24d)

Solutions

1. Restore the literal multi-line 'dependencies = [' block with one quoted entry per line in the module's pyproject.toml.
2. Ensure the block has at least the opening and closing lines exactly as the parser expects.
3. Avoid reformatting ghidra module pyproject.toml files with generic TOML formatters.

Example fix

# before (in pyproject.toml)
dependencies = ["a", "b"]
# after
dependencies = [
    "a",
    "b",
]

with open(pyproject) as f:
    lines = [l.strip() for l in f]
assert 'dependencies = [' in lines, 'pyproject.toml missing dependencies block'

try:
    deps = get_module_dependencies(name)
except Exception:
    # restore the literal dependencies block, then retry
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: A pyproject.toml that lists deps under a different key, uses inline arrays ([pkg, pkg]), lacks a dependencies block, or was reformatted (e.g. by a TOML formatter that changes quoting/spaces).

Common situations: Editing pyproject.toml and reformatting it; module whose toml genuinely has no dependencies block; tooling that rewrote the array onto one line.

Related errors

• The parameter '%s' of method '%s' refers to a non-existent s
• Cannot find Python source for {name}. If this is a remote s
• Missing configuration data:
• Could open module data directory
• Unable to parse configuration template

AI-assisted analysis of NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra@d5f144c24d (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4db9c15b28abb494. Report an issue: GitHub.