NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra · error · DuplicateNameException

Overlay space '${name}' duplicates name of another address s

Error message

Overlay space '${name}' duplicates name of another address space

What it means

In doCreateOverlaySpace, before creating, the code checks factory.getAddressSpace(name) != null and throws DuplicateNameException("Overlay space 'name' duplicates name of another address space") on collision. The chosen overlay name must not match any existing address space in the trace's address factory (overlay or built-in).

Source

Thrown at Ghidra/Debug/Framework-TraceModeling/src/main/java/ghidra/trace/database/address/DBTraceOverlaySpaceAdapter.java:260

		AddressSpace baseSpace = factory.getAddressSpace(ent.baseSpace);
		if (baseSpace == null) {
			// Error condition should be handled better - language may have dropped original base space
			throw new RuntimeException("Base space for overlay not found: " + ent.baseSpace);
		}
		return baseSpace == os.getOverlayedSpace();
	}

	protected AddressSpace doCreateOverlaySpace(String name, AddressSpace base)
			throws DuplicateNameException {
		TraceAddressFactory factory = trace.getInternalAddressFactory();

		if (!factory.isValidOverlayBaseSpace(base)) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException(
				"Invalid address space for overlay: " + base.getName());
		}

		if (factory.getAddressSpace(name) != null) {
			throw new DuplicateNameException(
				"Overlay space '" + name + "' duplicates name of another address space");
		}

		DBTraceOverlaySpaceEntry ent = overlayStore.create();
		ProgramOverlayAddressSpace space = factory.addOverlaySpace(ent.getKey(), name, base);

		// Only if it succeeds do we store the record
		ent.set(space.getName(), base.getName());
		trace.updateViewsAddSpaceBlock(space);
		trace.setChanged(
			new TraceChangeRecord<>(TraceEvents.OVERLAY_ADDED, space, trace, null, space));
		return space;
	}

	public AddressSpace createOverlayAddressSpace(String name, AddressSpace base)
			throws DuplicateNameException {
		// TODO: Exclusive lock?
		try (LockHold hold = LockHold.lock(lock.writeLock())) {

View on GitHub (pinned to d5f144c24d)

Solutions

1. Use getOrCreateOverlayAddressSpace when idempotency is desired.
2. Check factory.getAddressSpace(name) == null before calling create.
3. Generate a unique name (append a suffix/counter) on collision.

Example fix

// before
trace.createOverlayAddressSpace("ext", base);

// after
String name = "ext";
while (factory.getAddressSpace(name) != null) {
    name = name + "_";
}
trace.createOverlayAddressSpace(name, base);

if (factory.getAddressSpace(name) != null) {
    // name taken; pick another or use getOrCreate
}

try { trace.createOverlayAddressSpace(name, base); }
catch (DuplicateNameException e) { /* choose unique name and retry */ }

When it happens

Trigger: Creating an overlay whose name matches an existing overlay or built-in space; re-running creation code that does not deduplicate; importing content that already defined the space.

Common situations: Programmatic overlay creation with duplicate or generated names that clash; names like "External" or any built-in space name; re-running setup scripts against an already-populated trace.

Related errors

• Address space ${name} already exists.
• Invalid address space for overlay: {}
• Invalid number of elements specified: {}
• pos cannot be less than zero
• %s: unknown demangling style `%s'

AI-assisted analysis of NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra@d5f144c24d (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e0624325e0b65764. Report an issue: GitHub.