Tencent/tinker · error · TinkerRuntimeException

checkResInstall failed

Error message

checkResInstall failed

What it means

After swapping AssetManagers into every Resources instance, Tinker calls checkResUpdate to confirm a resource queried through the current context actually resolves to a patched value (e.g. a new entry). CHECK_RES_INSTALL_FAIL means the swap did not take effect from the caller's perspective — patched resources are not visible even though the injection code ran.

Source

Thrown at tinker-android/tinker-android-loader/src/main/java/com/tencent/tinker/loader/TinkerResourcePatcher.java:332

            }
        }

        // Handle issues caused by WebView on Android N.
        // Issue: On Android N, if an activity contains a webview, when screen rotates
        // our resource patch may lost effects.
        // for 5.x/6.x, we found Couldn't expand RemoteView for StatusBarNotification Exception
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 24) {
            try {
                if (publicSourceDirField != null) {
                    publicSourceDirField.set(context.getApplicationInfo(), externalResourceFile);
                }
            } catch (Throwable thr) {
                ShareTinkerLog.printErrStackTrace(TAG, thr, "fail to process publicSourceDirField field hack.");
            }
        }

        if (!checkResUpdate(context)) {
            throw new TinkerRuntimeException(ShareConstants.CHECK_RES_INSTALL_FAIL);
        }

        installResourceInsuranceHacks(context, externalResourceFile);
    }

    private static void installResourceInsuranceHacks(Context context, String patchedResApkPath) {
        try {
            final Object activityThread = ShareReflectUtil.getActivityThread(context, null);
            final Field mHField = ShareReflectUtil.findField(activityThread, "mH");
            final Handler mH = (Handler) mHField.get(activityThread);
            final Field mCallbackField = ShareReflectUtil.findField(Handler.class, "mCallback");
            final Handler.Callback originCallback = (Handler.Callback) mCallbackField.get(mH);
            if (!(originCallback instanceof ResourceInsuranceHandlerCallback)) {
                final ResourceInsuranceHandlerCallback hackCallback = new ResourceInsuranceHandlerCallback(
                        context, patchedResApkPath, originCallback, mH.getClass());
                mCallbackField.set(mH, hackCallback);
            } else {
                ShareTinkerLog.w(TAG, "installResourceInsuranceHacks: already installed, skip rest logic.");

View on GitHub (pinned to 1b7ea02c23)

Solutions

1. Ensure the resource patch actually changes at least the resource Tinker uses for verification and is built with matching plugin/SDK versions.
2. Rebuild and republish the patch; if the failure is device-specific, exclude resource patches on that model via server-side patch targeting.
3. Update Tinker — newer versions handle N+ ResourcesImpl and notification/RemoteViews edge cases better.

// Before publishing: ensure patch changes a resource and rebuilds cleanly
// Locally verify patched apk contains expected resources:
// aapt dump resources patched/resources.apk | grep <marker>

try {
    TinkerResourcePatcher.monkeyPatchExistingResources(context, externalResourceFile);
} catch (TinkerRuntimeException e) { /* CHECK_RES_INSTALL_FAIL */
    // resource swap not visible: kill current process to retry clean on next start
    ShareTinkerInternals.killAllOtherProcess(context);
    System.exit(0);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Some Resources/Theme instances still referencing the old AssetManager (webview-held Resources, another Resources created after enumeration), a resources patch whose checked marker resource is unchanged/absent, or an OEM resource caching layer ignoring the swap.

Common situations: Resource patches on N+ where WebView or LayoutInflater caches typed values; patches that modify no recognizable resource so the check cannot find an expected difference; partial injection because the app had created Resources before attachBaseContext completed.

Related errors

• zipEntry is null when get from oldApk
• patch %s extract failed (%s).
• resource references is null
• Could not create new AssetManager
• AssetManager add SharedLibrary Fail

AI-assisted analysis of Tencent/tinker@1b7ea02c23 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6316af1132988d71. Report an issue: GitHub.