hyperledger/fabric · error

Nil config passed to collection setup

Error message

Nil config passed to collection setup

What it means

SimpleCollection.Setup builds a private-data collection from a StaticCollectionConfig proto and requires a non-nil config. This error means a nil collection configuration was handed to Setup, so there is nothing to configure. It is a defensive guard preventing nil-pointer dereference when cloning and reading the config.

Source

Thrown at core/common/privdata/simplecollection.go:88

}

// IsMemberOnlyRead returns whether only collection member
// has the read permission
func (sc *SimpleCollection) IsMemberOnlyRead() bool {
	return sc.conf.MemberOnlyRead
}

// IsMemberOnlyWrite returns whether only collection member
// has the write permission
func (sc *SimpleCollection) IsMemberOnlyWrite() bool {
	return sc.conf.MemberOnlyWrite
}

// Setup configures a simple collection object based on a given
// StaticCollectionConfig proto that has all the necessary information
func (sc *SimpleCollection) Setup(collectionConfig *peer.StaticCollectionConfig, deserializer msp.IdentityDeserializer) error {
	if collectionConfig == nil {
		return errors.New("Nil config passed to collection setup")
	}
	sc.conf = proto.Clone(collectionConfig).(*peer.StaticCollectionConfig)
	sc.name = collectionConfig.GetName()

	// get the access signature policy envelope
	collectionPolicyConfig := collectionConfig.GetMemberOrgsPolicy()
	if collectionPolicyConfig == nil {
		return errors.New("Collection config policy is nil")
	}
	accessPolicyEnvelope := collectionPolicyConfig.GetSignaturePolicy()
	if accessPolicyEnvelope == nil {
		return errors.New("Collection config access policy is nil")
	}

	err := sc.setupAccessPolicy(collectionPolicyConfig, deserializer)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

1. Pass a valid, populated *peer.StaticCollectionConfig to Setup/NewSimpleCollection
2. Validate the collection config package (all referenced collections defined) before endorser processing
3. Fix the chaincode's collections.json/collection config so the requested collection exists

Example fix

// before
var cfg *peer.StaticCollectionConfig
sc.Setup(cfg, deserializer) // errors: Nil config passed

// after
if cfg == nil {
  return errors.New("collection config missing")
}
sc.Setup(cfg, deserializer)

if collectionConfig == nil {
  return fmt.Errorf("collection %q not found in config package", collName)
}

func validCollectionConfig(c *peer.StaticCollectionConfig) bool {
  return c != nil && c.GetName() != ""
}

sc := &privdata.SimpleCollection{}
if err := sc.Setup(cfg, deserializer); err != nil {
  if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "Nil config") {
    return fmt.Errorf("collection definition missing: %w", err)
  }
  return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling NewSimpleCollection or Setup with a nil *peer.StaticCollectionConfig — e.g., a collection definition missing from the collection config package, or code that indexes into a config slice without checking presence.

Common situations: Malformed collection configuration in chaincode definition approval, a collection name typo causing lookup failure that yields nil, or hand-built collection config packages in tests/tools.

Related errors

• Collection config policy is nil
• Collection config access policy is nil
• invalid configuration for collection criteria %#v
• collection policy config is nil
• collection config access policy is nil

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/94a926bef5c17b29. Report an issue: GitHub.