Tencent/tinker · error · IllegalStateException

Binder transaction failure.

Error message

Binder transaction failure.

What it means

After resolving the transaction code, Tinker hand-crafts the binder parcel for performDexOptSecondary and calls IBinder.transact on the PMS binder proxy. transact returning false means the binder driver/framework refused the transaction, so the dexopt request was never delivered to PackageManagerService.

Source

Thrown at tinker-android/tinker-android-loader/src/main/java/com/tencent/tinker/loader/TinkerDexOptimizer.java:399

                sPerformDexOptSecondaryTransactionCode[0]);

        final IBinder pmsBinder = getPMSBinderProxy(context);
        Parcel data = null;
        Parcel reply = null;
        try {
            data = Parcel.obtain();
            reply = Parcel.obtain();
            boolean result;
            try {
                data.writeInterfaceToken(pmsBinder.getInterfaceDescriptor());
                data.writeString(context.getPackageName());
                final String compileFilter = ShareTinkerInternals.isNewerOrEqualThanVersion(31 /* Android S */, true)
                        ? "verify" : "speed-profile";
                data.writeString(compileFilter);
                data.writeInt(1); // force
                boolean status = pmsBinder.transact(sPerformDexOptSecondaryTransactionCode[0], data, reply, 0);
                if (!status) {
                    throw new IllegalStateException("Binder transaction failure.");
                }
            } catch (RemoteException e) {
                throw new IllegalStateException(e);
            }
            try {
                reply.readException();
            } catch (Throwable thr) {
                throw new IllegalStateException(thr);
            }
            result = (0 != reply.readInt());
            if (!result) {
                ShareTinkerLog.w(TAG, "[!] System API return false.");
            }
        } finally {
            if (reply != null) {
                reply.recycle();
            }
            if (data != null) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 1b7ea02c23)

Solutions

1. Update Tinker — newer versions re-check the transaction code and add fallbacks.
2. Enable interpret mode to bypass the binder dexopt path entirely.
3. Catch the IllegalStateException during patch load and degrade to interpretation instead of failing the patch.

try {
    pmsBinder.transact(code, data, reply, 0);
} catch (IllegalStateException e) {
    // transact refused: fall back to interpret-only compilation
    compileInterpretOnly(dexFile);
}

When it happens

Trigger: pmsBinder.transact(...) returning false because the transaction code is stale for the running framework (e.g. code resolved on a different API shape), the binder died, or an OEM PMS rejects unknown transactions. Distinct from RemoteException, which is caught separately and wrapped.

Common situations: Mismatched transaction code after an OS upgrade (code cached from a prior boot class); OEM ROMs with a different IPackageManager parcel layout; the dexopt call racing with PMS restart.

Related errors

• Cannot query transaction code of performDexOptSecondary.
• No odex file was generated after calling performDexOptSecond
• target is null.
• fakeBinder does not return fakeInterface, binder: {}, itf: {
• No entries

AI-assisted analysis of Tencent/tinker@1b7ea02c23 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/53f5625397d3bc21. Report an issue: GitHub.