stanfordnlp/CoreNLP · error · RuntimeException

java.lang.Exception

Error message

java.lang.Exception

What it means

readSerializedProtobufFile deserializes an Annotation from a protobuf file and, on ANY Exception during reading/parsing/closing, wraps it in a RuntimeException at src/edu/stanford/nlp/quoteattribution/ExtractQuotesUtil.java:39. The message is generic because the original exception is only attached as the cause, so the real failure (IO error, protobuf parse failure, class mismatch) must be read from getCause().

Solutions

1. Inspect the cause chain (getCause()) to find the real underlying error.
2. Verify the file path exists and is readable before calling.
3. Regenerate the serialized protobuf file with the exact CoreNLP version in use.
4. Wrap the call in try-catch for RuntimeException and re-read the source file as plain text through the XML pipeline instead.

Example fix

// before
Annotation doc = ExtractQuotesUtil.readSerializedProtobufFile("quotes.ser");
// after
try {
  Annotation doc = ExtractQuotesUtil.readSerializedProtobufFile("quotes.ser");
} catch (RuntimeException e) {
  throw new IllegalStateException("Bad serialized quotes file: " + e.getCause(), e);
}

File f = new File(path);
if (!f.isFile() || f.length() == 0) throw new FileNotFoundException(path);

try {
  return ExtractQuotesUtil.readSerializedProtobufFile(path);
} catch (RuntimeException e) {
  throw new IllegalStateException("Bad serialized file: " + e.getCause(), e);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ExtractQuotesUtil.readSerializedProtobufFile(path) where the file does not exist, is not a valid protobuf Annotation stream, was produced by an incompatible CoreNLP version, or the input stream fails mid-read.

Common situations: Pointing the quote attribution annotator at a serialized file saved by a different CoreNLP version; truncated or hand-edited .ser protobuf files; wrong file path passed as -quoteAttachment.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to unmarshal" / json.Unmarshal errors: why parsing a response into a Go struct fails and how to fix it — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• Could not open temporary feature index file for reading.
• Serializing classifier to
• Failed to load segmenter
• Could not read string buffer fully!
• Keys are not being serialized: ${keysToSerialize}

AI-assisted analysis of stanfordnlp/CoreNLP@1b7edd19c4 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4f6a5ee00f722268. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/edu/stanford/nlp/quoteattribution/ExtractQuotesUtil.java:39

  //return true if one is contained in the other.
  public static boolean rangeContains(Pair<Integer, Integer> r1, Pair<Integer, Integer> r2) {
    return ((r1.first <= r2.first && r1.second >= r2.first) || (r1.first <= r2.second && r1.second >= r2.second));
  }
  public static Annotation readSerializedProtobufFile(File fileIn)
  {
    Annotation annotation;
    try {
      ProtobufAnnotationSerializer pas = new ProtobufAnnotationSerializer();
      InputStream is = new BufferedInputStream(new FileInputStream(fileIn));
      Pair<Annotation, InputStream> pair = pas.read(is);
      pair.second.close();
      annotation = pair.first;
      IOUtils.closeIgnoringExceptions(is);
      return annotation;
    }
    catch(Exception e)
    {
      throw new RuntimeException(e);
    }
  }

}

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