NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra · error · IllegalArgumentException

Missing or invalid command specified

Error message

Missing or invalid command specified

What it means

Thrown by run() when params[0] is not in COMMAND_SET. The valid commands are: createdatabase, dropdatabase, setmetadata, getmetadata, addexecategory, addfunctiontag, dropindex, rebuildindex, prewarm, generatesigs, commitsigs, generateupdates, commitupdates, delete, listfuncs, listexes, getexecount, dumpsigs. Any other string in the command position is rejected.

Source

Thrown at Ghidra/Features/BSim/src/main/java/ghidra/features/bsim/query/ingest/BSimLaunchable.java:400

	}

	/**
	 * Runs the command specified by the given set of params.
	 * 
	 * @param params the parameters specifying the command
	 * @param monitor the task monitor
	 * @throws IllegalArgumentException if invalid params have been specified
	 * @throws Exception if there's an error during the operation
	 * @throws CancelledException if processing is cancelled
	 */
	public void run(String[] params, TaskMonitor monitor) throws Exception, CancelledException {

		clearParams();

		checkRequiredParam(params, 0, "command");
		String command = params[0];
		if (!COMMAND_SET.contains(command)) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Missing or invalid command specified");
		}

		checkRequiredParam(params, 1, "URL");
		String urlstring = params[1];

		monitor.setCancelEnabled(true);

		List<String> subParams = readOptions(command, params, 2);

		initializeApplication(command);

		if (COMMAND_CREATE_DATABASE.equals(command)) {
			bsimURL = BSimClientFactory.deriveBSimURL(urlstring);
			doCreateDatabase(subParams);
		}
		else if (COMMAND_DROP_DATABASE.equals(command)) {
			bsimURL = BSimClientFactory.deriveBSimURL(urlstring);
			doDropDatabase(subParams);

View on GitHub (pinned to d5f144c24d)

Solutions

1. Verify the command name is spelled exactly as defined in the defineCommand() calls (lines 59-76).
2. Check the Ghidra/BSim documentation for the current list of supported commands.
3. Ensure no extra arguments precede the command name (e.g., flags like --verbose are not supported before the command).

Example fix

// before
bsim gensigs ghidra://server/Repo --bsim h2://localhost/db
// error: Missing or invalid command specified

// after
bsim generatesigs ghidra://server/Repo --bsim h2://localhost/db

Set<String> validCommands = Set.of(
    "createdatabase","dropdatabase","setmetadata","getmetadata",
    "addexecategory","addfunctiontag","dropindex","rebuildindex",
    "prewarm","generatesigs","commitsigs","generateupdates",
    "commitupdates","delete","listfuncs","listexes","getexecount","dumpsigs");
if (!validCommands.contains(command)) {
    System.err.println("Unknown command: " + command);
    System.err.println("Valid commands: " + validCommands);
    return;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Misspelling a command name (e.g., 'createdb' instead of 'createdatabase', 'gensigs' instead of 'generatesigs'); using a deprecated or removed command name; passing a file path or URL as the first argument instead of a command name.

Common situations: Typo in the command; using a command name from a different version of Ghidra that renamed or removed it; wrapper script that passes arguments in the wrong order.

Related errors

• Unsupported option use: {}
• Unexpected argument: {}
• Unsupported option specification: {}=
• Missing option value: {}
• Missing required parameter: {}

AI-assisted analysis of NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra@d5f144c24d (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8b7d0ff7c7eed082. Report an issue: GitHub.