spring-projects/spring-boot · error · IllegalArgumentException

InputStream must not be null.

Error message

InputStream must not be null.

What it means

ConfigurationMetadataRepositoryJsonBuilder.withJsonResource rejects a null InputStream immediately with IllegalArgumentException. The builder cannot read metadata from nothing, so it fails fast rather than produce an empty repository.

Source

Thrown at configuration-metadata/spring-boot-configuration-metadata/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/configurationmetadata/ConfigurationMetadataRepositoryJsonBuilder.java:75

		return withJsonResource(inputStream, this.defaultCharset);
	}

	/**
	 * Add the content of a {@link ConfigurationMetadataRepository} defined by the
	 * specified {@link InputStream} JSON document using the specified {@link Charset}. If
	 * this metadata repository holds items that were loaded previously, these are
	 * ignored.
	 * <p>
	 * Leaves the stream open when done.
	 * @param inputStream the source input stream
	 * @param charset the charset of the input
	 * @return this builder
	 * @throws IOException in case of I/O errors
	 */
	public ConfigurationMetadataRepositoryJsonBuilder withJsonResource(InputStream inputStream, Charset charset)
			throws IOException {
		if (inputStream == null) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException("InputStream must not be null.");
		}
		this.repositories.add(add(inputStream, charset));
		return this;
	}

	/**
	 * Build a {@link ConfigurationMetadataRepository} with the current state of this
	 * builder.
	 * @return this builder
	 */
	public ConfigurationMetadataRepository build() {
		SimpleConfigurationMetadataRepository result = new SimpleConfigurationMetadataRepository();
		for (SimpleConfigurationMetadataRepository repository : this.repositories) {
			result.include(repository);
		}
		return result;
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 5b2dbdbb8b)

Solutions

1. Null-check the stream before calling withJsonResource; skip if absent when an empty contribution is acceptable.
2. Fix the resource path/entry name so getResourceAsStream or getJarEntry returns a real stream.
3. If null should be a no-op, wrap: if (in != null) builder.withJsonResource(in);

Example fix

// before
builder.withJsonResource(getClass().getResourceAsStream("META-INF/spring-configuration-metadata.json"));
// after
InputStream in = getClass().getResourceAsStream("META-INF/spring-configuration-metadata.json");
if (in != null) {
    builder.withJsonResource(in);
}

if (inputStream == null) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("inputStream is null; resource may not exist.");
}
builder.withJsonResource(inputStream);

// Ensure non-null before invoking the builder
Objects.requireNonNull(inputStream, "metadata stream");

try { builder.withJsonResource(in).build(); }
catch (IllegalArgumentException ex) {
    if ("InputStream must not be null.".equals(ex.getMessage())) {
        // resolve the resource correctly and retry with a real stream
    } else throw ex;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling builder.withJsonResource(null) directly, or via create(InputStream...) with a null element in the varargs array. ChangelogGenerator.buildRepository guards against a missing jar entry (only calls withJsonResource when metadataEntry != null), so this typically arises from user code that resolves a resource/stream that came back null.

Common situations: Loading metadata from a classpath resource via getResourceAsStream where the resource name is wrong (returns null); a JarEntry lookup that returned null being passed anyway; wrapping an optional stream without a null check.

Related errors

• 'files' must not be null
• Invalid layers.xml configuration
• Multiple '{}' nodes found
• Failed to read configuration metadata
• Invalid value for option '--environment'. Expected 'NAME=VAL

AI-assisted analysis of spring-projects/spring-boot@5b2dbdbb8b (2026-08-04). Data as JSON: /data/errors/132dd1216a114ba7.json. Report an issue: GitHub.