Tencent/tinker · error · IllegalArgumentException

unknown section type: ${type}

Error message

unknown section type: ${type}

What it means

Thrown by the switch-based getSection(short type) in TableOfContents when a map_list entry's type code is not one of the known SECTION_TYPE_* constants (header, stringIds, typeIds, protoIds, fieldIds, methodIds, classDefs, mapList, typeLists, annotationSetRefs, annotations, encodedArrays, annotationsDirectories). The map list is the dex's self-describing section index; an unknown code means unrecognized or corrupt input.

Source

Thrown at third-party/aosp-dexutils/src/main/java/com/tencent/tinker/android/dex/TableOfContents.java:150

                return codes;
            }
            case SECTION_TYPE_STRINGDATAS: {
                return stringDatas;
            }
            case SECTION_TYPE_DEBUGINFOS: {
                return debugInfos;
            }
            case SECTION_TYPE_ANNOTATIONS: {
                return annotations;
            }
            case SECTION_TYPE_ENCODEDARRAYS: {
                return encodedArrays;
            }
            case SECTION_TYPE_ANNOTATIONSDIRECTORIES: {
                return annotationsDirectories;
            }
            default: {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException("unknown section type: " + type);
            }
        }
    }

    public void readFrom(Dex dex) throws IOException {
        readHeader(dex.openSection(header));
        // special case, since mapList.byteCount is available only after
        // computeSizesFromOffsets() was invoked, so here we can't use
        // dex.openSection(mapList) to get dex section. Or
        // an {@code java.nio.BufferUnderflowException} will be thrown.
        readMap(dex.openSection(mapList.off));
        computeSizesFromOffsets();
    }

    private void readHeader(Dex.Section headerIn) throws UnsupportedEncodingException {
        byte[] magic = headerIn.readByteArray(8);
        api = DexFormat.magicToApi(magic);

View on GitHub (pinned to 1b7ea02c23)

Solutions

1. Regenerate/re-dex the input with a toolchain matching what this library supports, or strip newer sections (the D8 `--min-api` flag nudges the format down).
2. Update the vendored aosp-dexutils to a revision whose SECTION_TYPE_* set covers the map items present in your dexes.
3. Validate with dexdump from the same SDK level as the library expectations to confirm where the unsupported item appears.

static final Set<Short> KNOWN_MAP_TYPES = Set.of((short)0x0000,(short)0x0001,(short)0x0002,(short)0x0003,(short)0x0004,(short)0x0005,(short)0x0006,(short)0x1000,(short)0x1001,(short)0x1002,(short)0x1003,(short)0x1004,(short)0x1005,(short)0x2000,(short)0x2001,(short)0x2002,(short)0x2003,(short)0x2004,(short)0x2005,(short)0x2006);
// reject before parse: read map types, ensure all in KNOWN_MAP_TYPES

catch (IllegalArgumentException e) with 'unknown section type' -> classify as unsupported-format and route the dex to a newer toolchain instead of retrying

When it happens

Trigger: readMap() iterating a map_list whose type field contains a value this vendored copy doesn't know (e.g. newer format sections like call sites / method handles in dex 038+) or garbage from a misaligned read.

Common situations: Feeding an API 26+-style dex (with CALLSITE_ID / METHOD_HANDLE map items) into this older aosp-dexutils snapshot during Tinker patch generation; corrupted map offsets after manual binary edits.

Related errors

• No such map item: ${type}
• Cannot merge dex files that do not contain a map
• Unexpected map value for 0x${type}
• Map is unsorted at ${previous}, ${section}
• Map is unsorted at ${section}

AI-assisted analysis of Tencent/tinker@1b7ea02c23 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b811555966f243cf. Report an issue: GitHub.