Gson 2.2.2 causing a stackoverflow on 4.2.1 only

Question

I am developing an app for android which downloads points of interest from a server using JSON strings. Everything was working fine but since I have started testing on 4.2.1, I have been getting the following error:

01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174): FATAL EXCEPTION: AsyncTask #1
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174): java.lang.RuntimeException: An error occured while executing doInBackground()
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at android.os.AsyncTask$3.done(AsyncTask.java:299)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.finishCompletion(FutureTask.java:352)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.setException(FutureTask.java:219)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:239)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at android.os.AsyncTask$SerialExecutor$1.run(AsyncTask.java:230)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1080)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:573)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:856)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174): Caused by: java.lang.StackOverflowError
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:371)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:375)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:380)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:375)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:380)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:375)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:380)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:375)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:380)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:375)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:380)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:375)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:380)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:375)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:380)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:375)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:380)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:375)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:380)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:375)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:380)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:375)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:380)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:375)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:380)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:375)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:380)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.resolve($Gson$Types.java:355)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.bind.ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.getBoundFields(ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.java:117)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.bind.ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.create(ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.java:72)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.Gson.getAdapter(Gson.java:353)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.bind.ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory$1.<init>(ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.java:82)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.bind.ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.createBoundField(ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.java:81)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.bind.ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.getBoundFields(ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.java:118)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.bind.ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.create(ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.java:72)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.Gson.getAdapter(Gson.java:353)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.bind.ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory$1.<init>(ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.java:82)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.bind.ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.createBoundField(ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.java:81)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.bind.ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.getBoundFields(ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.java:118)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.bind.ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.create(ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.java:72)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.Gson.getAdapter(Gson.java:353)
01-28 15:32:14.167: E/AndroidRuntime(31174):    at com.google.gson.internal.bind.ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory$1.<init>(ReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory.java:

The weird thing is, it works fine on every other version I have tried...

Here is the line I think it is crashing at:

    Gson g = new Gson();
    JSONResponse jsonResponse = g.fromJson(serverReply, JSONResponse.class); <---

and the class I am trying to create:

/**
 * The JSONResponse from the server
 * @author Tom
 *
 */
public class JSONResponse {
    private String          status;
    private PointOfInterest result;

    /**
     * Creates a JSONResponse object 
     * @param json
     * @return
     */
    static JSONResponse convertJSONToResponse(String json){
        Gson gson = new Gson();
        JSONResponse jsonResponse = gson.fromJson(json, JSONResponse.class);
        return jsonResponse;
    }

    /**
     * Get Point of Interest
     */

    public PointOfInterest getPointofInterest(){
        return result;
    }

    public String getStatus(){
        return status;
    }

    /**
     * Get PrivateSection, area we can put our own data
     */
    /*
    public String getPrivateSection(){
        return privateSection;
    }
    */
    /**
     * Creates a JSONResponse object 
     * @param json
     * @return
     */
    String convertJSONResponseToJSON(){
        Gson gson = new Gson();
        return gson.toJson(this);
    }
}

Please note I am aware of the terrible design pattern I have employed here, this application is for a mobile apps class I am taking in college so take it easy on me !

Edit Turns out downgrading gson to 1.7.1 works for me.

Salaried

Answer 1

So it turns out this is a bug as Erik Nedwidek pointed out. I took the easy route and downgraded gson from 2.2.2 to 1.7.1, everything works a treat now !

Salaried

Definitely not a whole lot of sense in killing yourself for credits. ;) – Nauru

Answer 2

Check out this bug report. http://code.google.com/p/google-gson/issues/detail?id=440

Comment #12:

I believe it was in API 17 that the internals of WeakReference and SoftReference changed to be self-referent, which would trigger this. Are you using Gson to serialize a WeakReference or SoftReference? If you are, you should write your own TypeAdapter for those types.

Something in your code is causing a circular reference and since it works up until 4.2.1 (API 17), it is most likely one of the Java classes. It still could be your code, but I'm highly doubtful.

Nauru

Oh dear... So is there any way to get around it? I am quite deep into this project and unfortuanatly the specifications require us to develop for the 4.2.1 api. Thanks for your help ! – Salaried

As the bug report says, find the class that is causing the issue and write your own TypeAdapter for it. – Nauru

As fun as that sounds, I figure downgrading to 1.7 is a suitable option if everything works. – Salaried