hyperledger/fabric · error

config metadata options field is nil

Error message

config metadata options field is nil

What it means

ConfigFromMetadataOptions guard: the Options field of the smartbft consensus metadata is nil, so there are no BFT options to map into the SmartBFT configuration. Defaults would silently misconfigure the node, so a nil options field is rejected.

Source

Thrown at orderer/consensus/smartbft/util/util.go:24

package util

import (
	"time"

	"github.com/hyperledger-labs/SmartBFT/pkg/types"
	"github.com/hyperledger/fabric-protos-go-apiv2/orderer/smartbft"
	"github.com/pkg/errors"
)

func ConfigFromMetadataOptions(selfID uint64, options *smartbft.Options) (types.Configuration, error) {
	var err error

	config := types.DefaultConfig
	config.SelfID = selfID

	if options == nil {
		return config, errors.New("config metadata options field is nil")
	}

	config.RequestBatchMaxCount = options.RequestBatchMaxCount
	config.RequestBatchMaxBytes = options.RequestBatchMaxBytes
	if config.RequestBatchMaxInterval, err = time.ParseDuration(options.RequestBatchMaxInterval); err != nil {
		return config, errors.Wrap(err, "bad config metadata option RequestBatchMaxInterval")
	}
	config.IncomingMessageBufferSize = options.IncomingMessageBufferSize
	config.RequestPoolSize = options.RequestPoolSize
	if config.RequestForwardTimeout, err = time.ParseDuration(options.RequestForwardTimeout); err != nil {
		return config, errors.Wrap(err, "bad config metadata option RequestForwardTimeout")
	}
	if config.RequestComplainTimeout, err = time.ParseDuration(options.RequestComplainTimeout); err != nil {
		return config, errors.Wrap(err, "bad config metadata option RequestComplainTimeout")
	}
	if config.RequestAutoRemoveTimeout, err = time.ParseDuration(options.RequestAutoRemoveTimeout); err != nil {
		return config, errors.Wrap(err, "bad config metadata option RequestAutoRemoveTimeout")
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

  1. Provide a fully populated Options block in the channel's consensus metadata
  2. Regenerate the channel config with proper smartbft options
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at orderer/consensus/smartbft/util/util.go:24 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/eec930eb21cebd70. Report an issue: GitHub.