NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra · warning · JDOMException

No context register name provided.

Error message

No context register name provided.

What it means

Thrown by parseGdisOptionsFile() as a JDOMException when a <context_register> element exists but has empty content (getContentSize() == 0). The element must contain the register name as its text content; an empty element yields no register name to look up. Like 638 it is caught internally, logged, and resets the config fields.

Source

Thrown at Ghidra/Extensions/SleighDevTools/src/main/java/ghidra/app/util/disassemble/GNUExternalDisassembler.java:229

				if (globalElement != null) {
					globalDisassemblerOptions = globalElement.getAttributeValue("optstring");
				}
				Element contextRegisterElement = rootElem.getChild("context_register");
				if (contextRegisterElement == null) {
					//no context_register element found in the xml file 
					//this is not necessarily an error - might only be a global optstring
					//global optstring has already been parsed, so we're done
					if (globalElement != null) {
						Msg.info(this,
							"no context register element in " + gdisOpts.getAbsolutePath());
						return;
					}
					//no context register element or global element, error
					throw new JDOMException(
						"No context_register element or global element in gdis options file");
				}
				if (contextRegisterElement.getContentSize() == 0) {
					throw new JDOMException("No context register name provided.");
				}
				String contextRegisterName = contextRegisterElement.getContent(0).getValue();
				contextRegister = lang.getRegister(contextRegisterName);
				if (contextRegister == null) {
					//the context register named in the xml file does not exist in the sleigh language
					//this is an error
					throw new JDOMException("Unknown context register " + contextRegisterName +
						" for language " + lang.getLanguageID().getIdAsString());
				}
				valueToOptionString = new HashMap<>();
				valueToDisplayPrefix = new HashMap<>();
				Element options = rootElem.getChild("options");
				List<Element> optList = options.getChildren("option");
				for (Element opt : optList) {
					Long value = Long.decode(opt.getAttributeValue("value"));
					String optString = opt.getAttributeValue("optstring");
					valueToOptionString.put(value, optString);
					String displayPrefix = opt.getAttributeValue("display_prefix");

View on GitHub (pinned to d5f144c24d)

Solutions

1. Put the context register name as the element's text content, e.g. <context_register>cs</context_register>.
2. Ensure the named register exists for the Sleigh language (else a separate 'Unknown context register' error follows).
3. Remove the <context_register> element entirely if the file should be global-optstring-only (but then add a <global> element, see 638).

Example fix

<!-- before -->
<context_register/>

<!-- after -->
<context_register>cs</context_register>

import org.jdom2.Element;
Element ctx = root.getChild("context_register");
if (ctx != null && ctx.getContentSize() == 0) {
    // empty <context_register/>; require a name or remove the element
}

public boolean contextRegisterHasName(Element ctx) {
    return ctx != null && ctx.getContentSize() > 0
        && ctx.getContent(0).getValue() != null && !ctx.getContent(0).getValue().trim().isEmpty();
}

try {
    config.parseGdisOptionsFile(fileName);
} catch (JDOMException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().equals("No context register name provided.")) {
        // fill the element text or drop it in favor of a <global> block
    } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: An options file with <context_register></context_register> or <context_register/> — the tag is present but the register name text node is missing.

Common situations: Authoring a new gdis options file and forgetting to fill in the register name; an editing tool that collapsed the element to self-closing.

Related errors

• No context_register element or global element in gdis option
• Not a Sleigh Language:
• Unknown context register
• Error: disassemble_fn is NULL. Nothing I can do.\n
• Invalid byte_order: {}

AI-assisted analysis of NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra@d5f144c24d (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7995e1d92c59b7d8. Report an issue: GitHub.