NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra · error · IllegalArgumentException

Missing required parameter: {}

Error message

Missing required parameter: {}

What it means

Thrown by checkRequiredParam() when the params array is too short to contain a required positional argument. All BSim commands require at least two positional arguments: the command name (params[0]) and a URL (params[1]). Some commands require additional positional parameters.

Source

Thrown at Ghidra/Features/BSim/src/main/java/ghidra/features/bsim/query/ingest/BSimLaunchable.java:358

				booleanOptions.add(option);
			}
			else if (!StringUtils.isBlank(value)) {
				optionValueMap.put(option, value);
			}
			else {
				// consume next param as option value
				if (++i == params.length) {
					throw new IllegalArgumentException("Missing option value: " + optionName);
				}
				optionValueMap.put(option, params[i]);
			}
		}
		return subParams;
	}

	private void checkRequiredParam(String[] params, int index, String name) {
		if (params.length <= index) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Missing required parameter: " + name);
		}
		String p = params[index];
		if (p.startsWith("--") || p.contains("=")) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException(
				"Missing required parameter (" + name + ") before specified option: " + p);
		}
	}

	private Integer parsePositiveIntegerOption(String option) {
		String optionValue = optionValueMap.get(option);
		if (optionValue == null) {
			return null;
		}
		try {
			int value = Integer.valueOf(optionValue);
			if (value < 0) {
				throw new IllegalArgumentException("Negative value not permitted for " + option);
			}

View on GitHub (pinned to d5f144c24d)

Solutions

1. Provide both the command name and URL: 'bsim <command> <url> [options]'.
2. Check the command's documentation for required positional parameters beyond URL.
3. Verify that wrapper scripts or build tools pass all arguments through correctly.

Example fix

// before
bsim createdatabase
// error: Missing required parameter: URL

// after
bsim createdatabase h2://localhost/mybsimdb

if (args.length < 2) {
    System.err.println("Usage: bsim <command> <url> [options]");
    System.err.println("Commands: createdatabase, dropdatabase, setmetadata, ...");
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Missing required arguments");
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running 'bsim createdatabase' with no URL argument (params has only 1 element, but index 1 is required). Or running 'bsim' alone with no arguments (params[0] itself is missing).

Common situations: Forgetting the URL argument; running with no arguments to see usage (BSim does not print help in this case, it throws); a wrapper script that drops arguments.

Related errors

• Unsupported option use: {}
• Unexpected argument: {}
• Unsupported option specification: {}=
• Missing option value: {}
• Missing required parameter ({}) before specified option: {}

AI-assisted analysis of NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra@d5f144c24d (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e08e2813038a17ef. Report an issue: GitHub.