gradle/gradle · error · InvalidUserDataException

Cannot add an extra info element with null namespace

Error message

Cannot add an extra info element with null namespace

What it means

The sibling null guard in DefaultIvyModuleDescriptorSpec.extraInfo: the namespace argument must not be null, otherwise InvalidUserDataException is thrown. Ivy extra-info elements are keyed by (namespace, name); an empty-string namespace is acceptable (the default Ivy namespace), but null is not.

Source

Thrown at platforms/software/ivy/src/main/java/org/gradle/api/publish/ivy/internal/publication/DefaultIvyModuleDescriptorSpec.java:93

    }

    @Override
    public void setBranch(@Nullable String branch) {
        this.branch = branch;
    }

    @Override
    public IvyExtraInfoSpec getExtraInfo() {
        return extraInfo;
    }

    @Override
    public void extraInfo(String namespace, String elementName, String value) {
        if (elementName == null) {
            throw new InvalidUserDataException("Cannot add an extra info element with null element name");
        }
        if (namespace == null) {
            throw new InvalidUserDataException("Cannot add an extra info element with null namespace");
        }
        extraInfo.add(namespace, elementName, value);
    }

    @Override
    public IvyPublicationCoordinates getCoordinates() {
        return ivyPublicationCoordinates;
    }

    @Override
    public void withXml(Action<? super XmlProvider> action) {
        xmlActions.add(new UserCodeAction<>("Could not apply withXml() to Ivy module descriptor", action));
    }

    @Override
    public Action<XmlProvider> getXmlAction() {
        return xmlActions;
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to 534f27719b)

Solutions

Pass an empty string '' for the default namespace instead of null
Default the namespace (e.g. to the Ivy or a project namespace) before calling extraInfo
Validate both namespace and name for null when generating entries dynamically

Example fix

// before:
ivyModuleDescriptor.extraInfo(null, 'myElement', 'value')
// after:
ivyModuleDescriptor.extraInfo('', 'myElement', 'value') // default Ivy namespace

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

def ns = namespace ?: '' // empty string = default Ivy namespace; null is rejected
if (namespace == null) {
    logger.warn('extraInfo namespace missing for element <{}>; using default namespace', elementName)
}
ivyModuleDescriptor.extraInfo(ns, elementName, value)

Prevention

Use '' (empty string) for the default namespace instead of null
Default optional namespaces before building extra-info entries

When it happens

Trigger: ivyModuleDescriptor.extraInfo(null, 'myElement', 'value') — often the namespace variable is missing, or code assumes the namespace can be omitted by passing null.

Common situations: Optional-namespace metadata code that passes null to mean 'none'; map-driven extra-info generation where the namespace key is absent.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of gradle/gradle@534f27719b (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7b2107a940b40923. Report an issue: GitHub.