iBotPeaches/Apktool · error · AndrolibException

Could not generate:

Error message

Could not generate: 

What it means

AndrolibException wrapping DirectoryException/IOException, thrown from ResDecoder's values-XML generation when serializing resource entries to res/values/*.xml fails. The first occurrence (line ~163) is the main values XML writer: it iterates a package's ResEntries and calls serializeToValuesXml on each; any I/O failure opening/writing the output stream, or a DirectoryException from the output Directory abstraction (missing parent dirs, file where dir expected), is rethrown with the target file name appended.

Source

Thrown at brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/res/ResDecoder.java:163

            List<ResEntry> entries = mapEntry.getValue();
            entries.sort(Comparator.comparing(ResEntry::getResId));

            String outFileName = "res/values" + qualifiers + "/" + (typeName.endsWith("s") ? typeName
                : typeName.equals("^attr-private") ? "attrs-private" : typeName + "s") + ".xml";
            try (OutputStream out = outDir.getFileOutput(outFileName)) {
                serial.setOutput(out, null);
                serial.startDocument(null, null);
                serial.startTag(null, "resources");

                for (ResEntry entry : entries) {
                    // We already verified the value, cast directly.
                    ((ValuesXmlSerializable) entry.getValue()).serializeToValuesXml(serial, entry);
                }

                serial.endTag(null, "resources");
                serial.endDocument();
            } catch (DirectoryException | IOException ex) {
                throw new AndrolibException("Could not generate: " + outFileName, ex);
            }
        }
    }

    private void generatePublicXml(ResPackage pkg, Directory outDir, ResXmlSerializer serial)
            throws AndrolibException {
        List<ResEntrySpec> specs = Lists.newArrayList(pkg.listEntrySpecs());
        specs.sort(Comparator.comparing(ResEntrySpec::getResId));

        String outFileName = "res/values/public.xml";
        try (OutputStream out = outDir.getFileOutput(outFileName)) {
            serial.setOutput(out, null);
            serial.startDocument(null, null);
            serial.startTag(null, "resources");

            for (ResEntrySpec spec : specs) {
                serial.startTag(null, "public");
                serial.attribute(null, "type", spec.getTypeSpec().getName());

View on GitHub (pinned to 79b63384d7)

Solutions

1. Check disk space and writability of the output directory (df -h ., touch test).
2. Ensure no file occupies res/values paths and no other apktool process writes the same outDir.
3. Retry with a clean output dir (`apktool d -f`) to rule out partial-state issues.

Example fix

# before
apktool d app.apk -o /readonly-mount/out
# after
apktool d -f app.apk -o ~/work/app-out

if (!outDir.canWrite() || outDir.getUsableSpace() < 50L * 1024 * 1024) {
    throw new IllegalStateException("Output dir unwritable or low on space: " + outDir);
}

catch (AndrolibException e) { if (e.getCause() instanceof IOException io) { /* map to environment issue: space/perms, surface io.getMessage() */ } throw e; }

When it happens

Trigger: decode() reaching values generation when the output tree is unwritable (permissions, disk full), an output path component was pre-occupied by a file, or an entry serializer hits an unexpected state producing a wrapped IOException.

Common situations: Out of disk during large app decode; outDir created on a read-only mount; antivirus locking generated XML files on Windows; concurrent decodes racing on the same output dir.

Related errors

• Input file (" + path + ") was not found or was not readable.
• Destination directory (" + path + ") already exists. Use -f
• Could not find framework resources for package ID {pkgId}. Y
• Could not decode arsc file.
• Error while reading chunk header.

AI-assisted analysis of iBotPeaches/Apktool@79b63384d7 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d350b36d70de0538. Report an issue: GitHub.