arduino stuck at initializing package

[kikiloaw]

here the problem with arduino
it was used many time but suddenly the arduino wont run now
in debug it says:
Loading configuration...

Initializing packages...
java.lang.NullPointerException
        at cc.arduino.contributions.packages.ContributionsIndexer.parseIndex(ContributionsIndexer.java:124)
        at processing.app.BaseNoGui.initPackages(BaseNoGui.java:484)
        at processing.app.Base.<init>(Base.java:268)
        at processing.app.Base.main(Base.java:151)

i tried to downgrade the version since it was stuck using latest version. after the isntalltion of arduino 1.8.9 it opens normaly. but when close and open again. the problem back again till now.

[bmitov]

I have the same problem. It started this morning. It happens on all of my computers. I even tested a new Arduino IDE install in clean Virtual machine. The same problem.
The problem is due to bug in the board manager.
To reproduce the problem:

1. Make sure you are connected to internet.
2. Start the Arduino IDE
3. Open the Board manager. You will see an Java Null pointer error reported after it is opened.
4. Close the Board Manager
5. Close the Arduino IDE
6. Try to start the Arduino IDE. It will show the splash and then shut down.

If you start with arduino_debug.exe you will see the following error reported:

Loading configuration...
Initializing packages...
java.lang.NullPointerException
at cc.arduino.contributions.packages.ContributionsIndexer.parseIndex(ContributionsIndexer.java:134)
at processing.app.BaseNoGui.initPackages(BaseNoGui.java:504)
at processing.app.Base.(Base.java:273)
at processing.app.Base.main(Base.java:150)

It appears that tjis is crash caused by some recent update to the board manager indexes etc.

[877dev]

Same issue here, tried different machines and builds, Windows/portable.

[AngryArduino]

Same error also with the libraries manager.

[rtnate]

Having the same issue. Appears to be caused by the updated package_index.json being downloaded.

[amorphis984]

I have a new computer and I'm having the same problem with Arduino IDE. I quickly get the message "Initializing Package" but never starts. Does anyone know of a fix?

[ptrooms]

Have the same as reported.

Removing/clearing the *.json allow restrat of Arduino but as soon one tries to use BoardManager, the problem returns (inability to start Arduino due to null-exception).

Further testing, show that (my problem) may relate to the signature file "package_index.json.sig", as soon as I remove that file and/or change the original contents of "package_index.json" (which forces an unmatched signature), I can restart Arduino with the per BoardManager newly updated json file.

Problem remains of course that whenever I try to use BoardManager, which will renew this signature file and re-iterate the start of the problem (java null-exception after/due to Boardmanager).

I also compared "package_index.json" with a preserved old one (dated january 2020) and found that the new file now of contains the extra packages: arduino-beta, Arduino megaAVR Boards 1.8.6 (in addition tot 1.8.5), Arduino nRF528x Boards (Mbed OS), avr-gcc 7.3.0-atmel3.6.1-arduino7 (in addition to 7.3.0-atmel3.6.1-arduino5.
Not sure if this related to any root cause as chaging files, change signature which apparently skips the content checking.

[rtnate]

arduino-beta might be the source of the issue. It lists tool dependencies openocd version 0.10.0-arduino12 and dfu-util version 0.9.0-arduino2. Neither of these tools are defined in the package_index.json. Arduino version 1.9-beta spits out an index error without crashing. I am up and running (for today anyway) on 1.9-beta. (Windows 10 Pro).

[GregorioDiStefano]

Same issue here. Unable to start arduino
Tried first: arduino-1.8.10, then upgraded to arduino-1.8.12, and same exact issue.

I upgraded to beta version 1.9.

[ptrooms]

Nightly (03jun20) works also and does indeed report some missing packages.

Index error: could not find referenced tool name=openocd version=0.10.0-arduino12 packager=arduino
Index error: could not find referenced tool name=dfu-util version=0.9.0-arduino2 packager=arduino

@rtnate likely the production release cannot cope with missing packages.
Question is who, how by wich is the "package_index.json" file buit and/or managed ?. Clearly it contain(s) an indexed reference problem problem that causes the root problem (using production releases).

[jbreu]

I have exactly the same issue. I just started using Ardunio IDE today and could use it for some hours nicely. Then I needed to restart the system and afterwards it was not starting. By deleting the cached json files the IDE starts again, but as soon as I launch Board Manager it breaks with Java Exceptions.

Edit: The nature of the bug makes me think that one of the online package sources is broken and Arduino cant cope with this. That would explain why it ceased to work during the day for more and more people.

Edit 2: With Beta 1.9 it works. I can still see Java exceptions in the console output, but seems 1.9 can handle them.

[PowerBroker2]

Using the following Python sketch, I was able to determine two possibly faulty package downloads that may be causing the problem:

import os
import json
import urllib.request
from pprint import pprint


if __name__ == '__main__':
    with open(r'C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Arduino15\package_index.json', 'r') as jfile:
        contents = jfile.read()
    
    jcontents = json.loads(contents)
    
    for package in jcontents['packages']:
        for platform in package['platforms']:
            print('-' * 50)
            pprint(platform['url'])
            
            (loc, r) = urllib.request.urlretrieve(platform['url'], os.path.join(r'C:\Users\<user>\OneDrive\Desktop\Python_Stuff\source_dir', os.path.basename(platform['url'])))
            
            print(os.stat(loc).st_size)
            
            if os.stat(loc).st_size != int(platform['size']):
                print('ERROR: Incorrect download size: Expected {} bytes, but got {}'.format(platform['size'], os.stat(loc).st_size))
            
            print()
    
    print('*' * 100)
    print('Done')

The output of the above code shows that http://downloads.arduino.cc/cores/Arrow-samd-1.2.0.tar.bz2 and https://github.com/AtmelUniversityFrance/atmel-avr-xmini-boardmanagermodule/releases/download/v0.5.0/atmel-avr-xmini-boardmanagermodule-0.5.0.tar.bz2 have incorrect download sizes.

Not sure if the packages were updated and the package JSON file wasn't (or vice versa). Updating the http://downloads.arduino.cc/cores/Arrow-samd-1.2.0.tar.bz2 file size to 36768 in the JSON file and https://github.com/AtmelUniversityFrance/atmel-avr-xmini-boardmanagermodule/releases/download/v0.5.0/atmel-avr-xmini-boardmanagermodule-0.5.0.tar.bz2 file size to 95437 in the JSON file allowed the IDE to reopen. However, the IDE may have been allowed to open by ignoring the JSON file completely doe to the package signature becoming out of date.

How is the package sig file generated? Is it a sort of hash?

[ArnoutVos]

Same here. Fresh Ubuntu 20.04 install.
Same with the latest beta (1.9)

[PowerBroker2]

Possibly more context here

[ptrooms]

I presume the signature is OK, the problem looks to be that the production release of Arduino does not like the unresolved package referenced to "openocd & dfu-util" as referenced by "package_index.json" which is updated/checked during board-manager and (re)start.

@PowerBroker2 : Yep, I think that 1b7574a may relate to "our" problem.
That said, the problem is more likely in the "package_index.json". I wonder who manage the contents.