NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra · error · MalformedURLException

Unsupported repository URL: {ghidraURL}

Error message

Unsupported repository URL: {ghidraURL}

What it means

Thrown by IterateRepository.process when the provided URL is neither a server repository URL (GhidraURL.isServerRepositoryURL returns false) nor a local URL (GhidraURL.isLocalURL returns false). IterateRepository only supports Ghidra server repository URLs (ghidra:// or https://) and local file URLs. Any other scheme or malformed URL is rejected.

Source

Thrown at Ghidra/Features/BSim/src/main/java/ghidra/features/bsim/query/ingest/IterateRepository.java:57

	 * @throws IOException if an error occured during processing.
	 * @throws CancelledException if processing was cancelled
	 */
	protected abstract void process(Program program, TaskMonitor monitor)
			throws IOException, CancelledException;

	/**
	 * Process the specified repository URL
	 * @param ghidraURL ghidra URL for existing server repository and optional
	 * folder path
	 * @param monitor task monitor
	 * @throws Exception if an error occurs during processing
	 * @throws CancelledException if processing is cancelled
	 */
	public void process(URL ghidraURL, TaskMonitor monitor) throws Exception, CancelledException {

		if (!GhidraURL.isServerRepositoryURL(ghidraURL) &&
			!GhidraURL.isLocalURL(ghidraURL)) {
			throw new MalformedURLException("Unsupported repository URL: " + ghidraURL);
		}

		// Query URL - may be either file or folder (no link following)
		GhidraURLQuery.queryUrl(ghidraURL, null, new GhidraURLResultHandlerAdapter(true) {

			@Override
			public void processResult(DomainFolder domainFolder, URL url, TaskMonitor m)
					throws IOException, CancelledException {

				int totalFiles = getTotalFileCount(domainFolder);

				monitor.setMaximum(totalFiles);
				monitor.setShowProgressValue(true);

				process(domainFolder, monitor);
			}

			@Override

View on GitHub (pinned to d5f144c24d)

Solutions

1. For local projects, use GhidraURL.toLocalURL(domainFolder) or GhidraURL.getLocalURL(project, path) to construct a valid local URL.
2. For server repositories, use GhidraURL.toServerRepositoryURL(host, port, repoName) or the equivalent.
3. Verify the URL scheme: server repos use 'ghidra://' or 'https://', local URLs use 'file://' with Ghidra project structure.
4. Print the URL before passing it to process() to verify the format.

Example fix

// before
if (!GhidraURL.isServerRepositoryURL(ghidraURL) && !GhidraURL.isLocalURL(ghidraURL)) {
    throw new MalformedURLException("Unsupported repository URL: " + ghidraURL);
}

// caller fix — construct a proper URL
// before (wrong):
//   URL url = new URL("file:/path/to/project/folder");
//   iter.process(url, monitor);

// after (correct):
//   URL url = GhidraURL.toLocalURL(domainFolder);
//   iter.process(url, monitor);

// Validate the URL type before calling process
if (ghidraURL == null) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("ghidraURL must not be null");
}
if (!GhidraURL.isServerRepositoryURL(ghidraURL) && !GhidraURL.isLocalURL(ghidraURL)) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException(
        "URL must be a Ghidra server repository URL or local URL: " + ghidraURL +
        ". Use GhidraURL.toServerRepositoryURL() or GhidraURL.toLocalURL() to construct.");
}

public static boolean isProcessableRepositoryURL(URL url) {
    return url != null &&
        (GhidraURL.isServerRepositoryURL(url) || GhidraURL.isLocalURL(url));
}

// Validation-based — check URL format before calling process
if (!isProcessableRepositoryURL(ghidraURL)) {
    // Try converting a filesystem path to a local URL
    // Or report the error with guidance
    throw new IllegalArgumentException(
        "Unsupported URL format. Expected ghidra:// or local Ghidra project URL.");
}
repo.process(ghidraURL, monitor);

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a URL with an unsupported scheme (e.g., http://, ftp://), a plain filesystem path that is not wrapped as a Ghidra local URL, a malformed URL string, or a URL pointing to a non-repository resource. GhidraURL requires specific formats: 'ghidra://host/repo/folder' for server repos or local project paths formatted as Ghidra local URLs.

Common situations: Passing a raw filesystem path instead of converting it to a GhidraURL first; typo in the URL scheme; pointing at a web URL instead of a Ghidra repository server; using a URL format from a different Ghidra version; the URL was constructed without GhidraURL.toURL helpers.

Related errors

• Protocol not permissable for BSim URL
• BSim URL missing DB name/path
• BSim URL must specify exactly 1 path element
• URL is missing a repository path
• Unsupported protocol: {}

AI-assisted analysis of NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra@d5f144c24d (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/29e59956406eaad6. Report an issue: GitHub.