iBotPeaches/Apktool · error · AndrolibException

Missing type string pool.

Error message

Missing type string pool.

What it means

parseTypeSpec requires the package's type-name string pool to be loaded before any RES_TABLE_TYPE_SPEC chunk can be interpreted (it maps the spec's type id to a name via `mTypeStringPool.getString(id - 1)`). If a type spec chunk appears before the RES_TABLE_TYPE_TYPE string-pool chunk in the package, this error is thrown.

Source

Thrown at brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/res/decoder/BinaryResourceParser.java:303

                    break;
                default:
                    skipUnexpectedChunk(parser);
                    break;
            }
        }

        // Clean up.
        injectDummyEntrySpecs();
        mInvalidConfigs.clear();
        mPackage = null;
        mTypeIdOffset = 0;
        mTypeStringPool = null;
        mKeyStringPool = null;
    }

    private void parseTypeSpec(ResChunkPullParser parser) throws AndrolibException, IOException {
        if (mTypeStringPool == null) {
            throw new AndrolibException("Missing type string pool.");
        }

        // ResTable_typeSpec
        int id = mIn.readUnsignedByte();
        mIn.skipByte(); // res0
        mIn.skipShort(); // typesCount
        int entryCount = mIn.readInt();

        skipUnreadHeader(parser);

        if (mEntrySpecFlagsOffsets != null) {
            mEntrySpecFlagsOffsets.add(Pair.of(mIn.position(), entryCount));
        }
        mIn.skipBytes(entryCount * 4); // flags

        mPackage.addTypeSpec(id, mTypeStringPool.getString(id - 1));
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to 79b63384d7)

Solutions

1. Confirm the APK decodes with stock aapt2 (`aapt2 dump resources app.apk`) — if that also fails, the arsc itself is malformed.
2. Get the original unobfuscated APK (different device ABI split, pre-packing source) and decode that.
3. If you control the arsc generation, emit the type string pool (RES_TABLE_TYPE_TYPE) before any type spec chunks.
4. Report apps protected by packers as unsupported rather than trying to hand-patch pool offsets.

try {
    apkDecoder.decode(apk, out);
} catch (AndrolibException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("type string pool")) {
        // arsc chunk order is invalid (packer/obfuscator) — try an unobfuscated source
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Decoding an arsc where the RES_TABLE_TYPE_SPEC chunk precedes the type string pool chunk inside a package — i.e. chunk order violates the aapt2 format, typically from a corrupted, hand-edited, or packer-mangled resources.arsc.

Common situations: Resources obfuscated by third-party packers (e.g. commercial Android packers) that strip or reorder string pools; arsc patched by resource-shrinking tools with bugs; malformed arsc emitted by non-standard build tooling.

Related errors

• Missing key string pool
• Missing value string pool.
• Input file is empty.
• Unexpected chunk:
• Could not decode arsc file.

AI-assisted analysis of iBotPeaches/Apktool@79b63384d7 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8371fa3dd56692f6. Report an issue: GitHub.