Tencent/tinker · error · TinkerRuntimeException

can't recognize dex mode:{}

Error message

can't recognize dex mode:{}

What it means

ShareDexDiffPatchInfo parses each line of the patch's dex meta file; the third field of each line is the dex mode. Only 'jar' (ShareConstants.DEXMODE_JAR) and 'raw' (DEXMODE_RAW) are accepted; any other value throws TinkerRuntimeException("can't recognize dex mode:"). It indicates the patch package meta was generated by an incompatible/unknown tool version or was corrupted.

Source

Thrown at tinker-android/tinker-android-loader/src/main/java/com/tencent/tinker/loader/shareutil/ShareDexDiffPatchInfo.java:69

        this.path = path;
        this.destMd5InDvm = destMd5InDvm;
        this.destMd5InArt = destMd5InArt;
        this.dexDiffMd5 = dexDiffMd5;
        this.oldDexCrC = oldDexCrc;
        this.newOrPatchedDexCrC = newOrPatchedDexCrC;
        this.dexMode = dexMode;
        if (dexMode.equals(ShareConstants.DEXMODE_JAR)) {
            this.isJarMode = true;
            if (SharePatchFileUtil.isRawDexFile(name)) {
                realName = name + ShareConstants.JAR_SUFFIX;
            } else {
                realName = name;
            }
        } else if (dexMode.equals(ShareConstants.DEXMODE_RAW)) {
            this.isJarMode = false;
            this.realName = name;
        } else {
            throw new TinkerRuntimeException("can't recognize dex mode:" + dexMode);
        }
    }

    public static void parseDexDiffPatchInfo(String meta, ArrayList<ShareDexDiffPatchInfo> dexList) {
        if (meta == null || meta.length() == 0) {
            return;
        }
        String[] lines = meta.split("\n");
        for (final String line : lines) {
            if (line == null || line.length() <= 0) {
                continue;
            }
            final String[] kv = line.split(",", 8);
            if (kv == null || kv.length < 8) {
                continue;
            }

            // key

View on GitHub (pinned to 1b7ea02c23)

Solutions

1. Match versions: use the tinker gradle plugin release that corresponds to the tinker-android-lib in the app.
2. Rebuild the patch with the standard build pipeline and do not edit any *-meta.txt inside the package.
3. Verify the patch package with ShareTinkerInternals / patch version checks before calling tryLoadPatch, and reject patches whose meta format is unknown.
4. Confirm the dexMode string in dex_meta.txt is exactly 'jar' or 'raw' (no whitespace, correct casing).

Example fix

// before
String dexMode = fields[2]; // may contain 'Jar ' or garbage
// after
String dexMode = fields[2].trim().toLowerCase();
if (!DEXMODE_JAR.equals(dexMode) && !DEXMODE_RAW.equals(dexMode)) {
    throw new TinkerRuntimeException("can't recognize dex mode:" + dexMode);
}

// Validate dex meta lines before constructing ShareDexDiffPatchInfo
for (String line : meta.split("\n")) {
    String[] f = line.split(",", -1);
    if (f.length < 9) continue;
    String mode = f[2].trim();
    if (!"jar".equals(mode) && !"raw".equals(mode)) {
        // reject patch package: unknown meta format
    }
}

try {
    ShareDexDiffPatchInfo.parseDexDiffPatchInfo(meta, dexList);
} catch (TinkerRuntimeException e) {
    // patch package incompatible with this loader version: reject and report version pair
}

When it happens

Trigger: Constructing ShareDexDiffPatchInfo from a meta line whose dexMode column is neither 'jar' nor 'raw' — typically while tinker-android-loader parses assets/dex_meta.txt during patch load or verify.

Common situations: Patch built with a tinker-patch-gradle-plugin version whose meta format does not match the loader version in the app; hand-edited or truncated dex_meta.txt; old patches (raw dex mode) loaded by a loader expecting jar mode or vice versa; mixed plugin/gradle versions between build and runtime.

Related errors

• patch %s extract failed (%s).
• can't recognize zip dex format file:%s
• patch dex file directory not found, warning why the path is
• patch dex file not found, but path is null!!!!
• createDelegate failed

AI-assisted analysis of Tencent/tinker@1b7ea02c23 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ac8630e49f976458. Report an issue: GitHub.