ExoPlayer throws NullPointerException on Nexus 5X (MTC20F) / Android 6.0.1

[kristerkari]

Bug

I noticed from our Sentry that one of the Android test track users with Nexus 5X / Android 6.0.1 had gotten a NullPointerException from ExoPlayer.

I have used 5 different Android devices (e.g. Galaxy A5, OnePlus 3T) to test the video playback, and it has been working just fine on them.

I don't have the Nexus 5X device myself, so I'm not able to verify the crash happening.

Here's the stacktrace:

java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'java.lang.String android.content.Context.getPackageName()' on a null object reference
    at com.google.android.exoplayer2.util.Util.getUserAgent(Util.java:1101)
    at com.brentvatne.exoplayer.DataSourceUtil.getUserAgent(DataSourceUtil.java:38)
    at com.brentvatne.exoplayer.DataSourceUtil.buildHttpDataSourceFactory(DataSourceUtil.java:80)
    at com.brentvatne.exoplayer.DataSourceUtil.buildDataSourceFactory(DataSourceUtil.java:72)
    at com.brentvatne.exoplayer.DataSourceUtil.getDefaultDataSourceFactory(DataSourceUtil.java:57)
    at com.brentvatne.exoplayer.ReactExoplayerView.buildDataSourceFactory(ReactExoplayerView.java:542)
    at com.brentvatne.exoplayer.ReactExoplayerView.createViews(ReactExoplayerView.java:198)
    at com.brentvatne.exoplayer.ReactExoplayerView.<init>(ReactExoplayerView.java:180)
    at com.brentvatne.exoplayer.ReactExoplayerViewManager.createViewInstance(ReactExoplayerViewManager.java:70)
    at com.brentvatne.exoplayer.ReactExoplayerViewManager.createViewInstance(ReactExoplayerViewManager.java:22)
    at com.facebook.react.uimanager.ViewManager.createView(ViewManager.java:45)
    at com.facebook.react.uimanager.NativeViewHierarchyManager.createView(NativeViewHierarchyManager.java:260)
    at com.facebook.react.uimanager.UIViewOperationQueue$CreateViewOperation.execute(UIViewOperationQueue.java:200)
    at com.facebook.react.uimanager.UIViewOperationQueue$DispatchUIFrameCallback.dispatchPendingNonBatchedOperations(UIViewOperationQueue.java:1109)
    at com.facebook.react.uimanager.UIViewOperationQueue$DispatchUIFrameCallback.doFrameGuarded(UIViewOperationQueue.java:1080)
    at com.facebook.react.uimanager.GuardedFrameCallback.doFrame(GuardedFrameCallback.java:29)
    at com.facebook.react.modules.core.ReactChoreographer$ReactChoreographerDispatcher.doFrame(ReactChoreographer.java:166)
    at com.facebook.react.modules.core.ChoreographerCompat$FrameCallback$1.doFrame(ChoreographerCompat.java:110)
    at android.view.Choreographer$CallbackRecord.run(Choreographer.java:856)
    at android.view.Choreographer.doCallbacks(Choreographer.java:670)
    at android.view.Choreographer.doFrame(Choreographer.java:603)
    at android.view.Choreographer$FrameDisplayEventReceiver.run(Choreographer.java:844)
    at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:739)
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:95)
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:148)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5421)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:726)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:616)

Environment info

React native info output:

  React Native Environment Info:
    System:
      OS: macOS 10.14.4
      CPU: (4) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7567U CPU @ 3.50GHz
      Memory: 1.35 GB / 16.00 GB
      Shell: 3.0.2 - /usr/local/bin/fish
    Binaries:
      Node: 8.16.0 - /usr/local/opt/node@8/bin/node
      Yarn: 1.16.0 - /usr/local/bin/yarn
      npm: 6.4.1 - /usr/local/opt/node@8/bin/npm
      Watchman: 4.9.0 - /usr/local/bin/watchman
    SDKs:
      iOS SDK:
        Platforms: iOS 12.2, macOS 10.14, tvOS 12.2, watchOS 5.2
      Android SDK:
        API Levels: 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28
        Build Tools: 23.0.1, 23.0.3, 25.0.1, 25.0.2, 25.0.3, 26.0.0, 26.0.1, 26.0.2, 26.0.3, 27.0.3, 28.0.0, 28.0.3
        System Images: android-19 | Intel x86 Atom, android-21 | ARM EABI v7a, android-21 | Intel x86 Atom_64, android-22 | Google APIs Intel x86 Atom, android-26 | Google Play Intel x86 Atom
    IDEs:
      Android Studio: 3.4 AI-183.6156.11.34.5522156
      Xcode: 10.2.1/10E1001 - /usr/bin/xcodebuild
    npmPackages:
      react: 16.6.3 => 16.6.3 
      react-native: 0.58.6 => 0.58.6 

Library version: 4.4.1

Device info from Sentry:

Family | Nexus
Model | Nexus 5X (MTC20F)
Architecture | armeabi-v7a
Battery Level | 43%
Orientation | portrait
Memory | Total: 4.0 GB / Free: 3.2 GB
Capacity | Total: 3.0 GB / Free: 2.1 GB
Simulator | False
brand | google
charging | True
low_memory | False
manufacturer | LGE
online | True
screen_density | 0.6625
screen_dpi | 106
screen_resolution | 448x288

Steps To Reproduce

1. Try to play an .mp4 file with react-native-video on Nexus 5X (MTC20F) / Android 6.0.1

Reproducible sample code

<Video
  source={video.source}
  repeat={true}
  allowsExternalPlayback={false}
  controls={false}
  muted={true}
/>

[kristerkari]

I wonder if updating to a newer version of ExoPlayer would fix the issue?

https://github.com/google/ExoPlayer/blob/release-v2/RELEASENOTES.md

[ku8ar]

This is the error that the Google Play Bot returns when adding a new version of the application to the Play Store.
For some reason, Google uses a rooted simulator for scanning which has a trash in its internal libraries.

[happyfloat]

@ku8ar So you are saying it is only related to their simulators? I'm also seeing these crashes in sentry from the test lab bots. Works on two devices I tested so far.

[ku8ar]

@happyfloat Yes, only bots. But I have a theory that this crash is causing the longer publishing time for app in the Play Store (but I can't prove it).