hyperledger/fabric · error

proto: Marshal called with nil

Error message

proto: Marshal called with nil

What it means

MockSignedEndorserProposalOrPanic test helper panic: CreateChaincodeProposal returned a nil proposal without an error, so marshalling it would panic in proto.Marshal. The helper converts this impossible-but-detected condition into an explicit panic with the sentinel text 'proto: Marshal called with nil'.

Source

Thrown at protoutil/txutils.go:395

// passed arguments
func MockSignedEndorserProposalOrPanic(
	channelID string,
	cs *peer.ChaincodeSpec,
	creator,
	signature []byte,
) (*peer.SignedProposal, *peer.Proposal) {
	prop, _, err := CreateChaincodeProposal(
		common.HeaderType_ENDORSER_TRANSACTION,
		channelID,
		&peer.ChaincodeInvocationSpec{ChaincodeSpec: cs},
		creator,
	)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}

	if prop == nil {
		panic(errors.New("proto: Marshal called with nil"))
	}
	propBytes, err := proto.Marshal(prop)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}

	return &peer.SignedProposal{ProposalBytes: propBytes, Signature: signature}, prop
}

func MockSignedEndorserProposal2OrPanic(
	channelID string,
	cs *peer.ChaincodeSpec,
	signer Signer,
) (*peer.SignedProposal, *peer.Proposal) {
	serializedSigner, err := signer.Serialize()
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

1. Fix CreateChaincodeProposal to never return (nil, nil)
2. Adjust the test inputs (channel/chaincode spec) so proposal creation succeeds

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at protoutil/txutils.go:395 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/9e55232d25263810. Report an issue: GitHub.