Compilation Errors

Since RPython is only designed for PyPy at the first place, the compilation error messages are a bit confusing. Sometime, you need some knowledge of compiler design to understand what’s going on. In this section, we show some common error messages you will see when compiler fails to compile the RPython sources.

This is a very common error message caused by mixing different types.

def compiler_error(arg):
    v = 0              # v is an integer
    if arg:
        v = 1          # assign integer 1 to v
    else:
        v = ""         # assign string "" to v
    return v

def entry_point(argv): compiler_error(argv[1]); return 0
def target(*args): return entry_point

The following is a very verbose and confusing error message (which can be greatly improved). The RPython compiler will print out the stack trace like other exceptions in Python. You can find out types, error description, and other useful information of the error in the highlighted part below. In addition, the RPython compiler will give you a Pdb for debugging.

[translation:info] Error:
   File "/pypy/rpython/translator/goal/translate.py", line 318, in main
     drv.proceed(goals)
   File "/pypy/rpython/translator/driver.py", line 554, in proceed
     result = self._execute(goals, task_skip = self._maybe_skip())
   File "/pypy/rpython/translator/tool/taskengine.py", line 114, in _execute
     res = self._do(goal, taskcallable, *args, **kwds)
   File "/pypy/rpython/translator/driver.py", line 278, in _do
     res = func()
   File "/pypy/rpython/translator/driver.py", line 315, in task_annotate
     s = annotator.build_types(self.entry_point, self.inputtypes)
   File "/pypy/rpython/annotator/annrpython.py", line 92, in build_types
     return self.build_graph_types(flowgraph, inputs_s, complete_now=complete_now)
   File "/pypy/rpython/annotator/annrpython.py", line 140, in build_graph_types
     self.complete()
   File "/pypy/rpython/annotator/annrpython.py", line 229, in complete
     self.complete_pending_blocks()
   File "/pypy/rpython/annotator/annrpython.py", line 224, in complete_pending_blocks
     self.processblock(graph, block)
   File "/pypy/rpython/annotator/annrpython.py", line 398, in processblock
     self.flowin(graph, block)
   File "/pypy/rpython/annotator/annrpython.py", line 572, in flowin
     self.follow_link(graph, link, constraints)
   File "/pypy/rpython/annotator/annrpython.py", line 603, in follow_link
     self.addpendingblock(graph, link.target, inputs_s)
   File "/pypy/rpython/annotator/annrpython.py", line 189, in addpendingblock
     self.mergeinputargs(graph, block, cells)
   File "/pypy/rpython/annotator/annrpython.py", line 435, in mergeinputargs
     unions = [annmodel.unionof(c1,c2) for c1, c2 in zip(oldcells,inputcells)]
   File "/pypy/rpython/annotator/model.py", line 775, in unionof
     s1 = pair(s1, s2).union()
   File "/pypy/rpython/annotator/binaryop.py", line 93, in union
     raise UnionError(obj1, obj2)
[translation:ERROR] UnionError:

Offending annotations:
  SomeString(const='', no_nul=True)
  SomeInteger(const=1, knowntype=int, nonneg=True, unsigned=False)

In <FunctionGraph of (error:1)compiler_error at 0x5b895c8>:
<return block>
Processing block:
block@9[arg_0] is a <class 'rpython.flowspace.flowcontext.SpamBlock'>
in (error:1)compiler_error
containing the following operations:
      v0 = bool(arg_0)
--end--
[translation] start debugger...
> /pypy/rpython/annotator/binaryop.py(93)union()
-> raise UnionError(obj1, obj2)
(Pdb+)

Basically, there are two common errors (i.e., compiler exceptions) AnnotatorError, FlowingError.

`AnnotatorError`

AnnotatorError is a class of compiler errors happens in annotating a RPython program. There are several specific errors in this class:

UnionError (annotator/module.py): annotator complains on type conflicts
TooLateForChange (annotator/listdef.py): not documented
ListChangeUnallowed (annotator/listdef.py): not documented
NoSuchAttrError (annotator/classdesc.py): attributes not found in a class
SignatureError (annotator/signature.py): function declaration signature difference

In addition to above specific errors, there are many common annotator errors which are not raised by above error classes.

For instance, this is a common annotator error:

def func(): return 0
def compiler_error(arg):
    func(1)

def entry_point(argv): compiler_error(argv[1]); return 0
def target(*args): return entry_point

Here is the error message, which is very informative. In line 3, there is a signature mismatch. Specifically, the function takes no argument but 1 argument given in line 3.

[translation:ERROR] AnnotatorError:

signature mismatch: func() takes no arguments (1 given)


Occurred processing the following simple_call:
  function func <signature_error.py, line 1> returning

    v0 = simple_call((function func), (1))

In <FunctionGraph of (signature_error:2)compiler_error at 0x658a528>:
Happened at file signature_error.py line 3

==>     func(1)

Known variable annotations:

Processing block:
block@6[arg_0] is a <class 'rpython.flowspace.flowcontext.SpamBlock'>
in (signature_error:2)compiler_error
containing the following operations:
      v0 = simple_call((function func), (1))
--end--

`UnionError`

UnionError represents there is a type conflict when annotating types. In the above example, the variable v can be an integer type and a string type depends on the arg function parameter. Let us look at the error message again.

[translation:ERROR] UnionError:

Offending annotations:
  SomeString(const='', no_nul=True)
  SomeInteger(const=1, knowntype=int, nonneg=True, unsigned=False)

In <FunctionGraph of (error:1)compiler_error at 0x5b895c8>:
<return block>
Processing block:
block@9[arg_0] is a <class 'rpython.flowspace.flowcontext.SpamBlock'>
in (error:1)compiler_error
containing the following operations:
      v0 = bool(arg_0)

It tells you that there is a type conflict. The RPython annotator gives you the offending annotations, the SomeString type and the SomeInteger type, which cannot be unified. And this conflict is in the compiler_error function.

`FlowingError`

FlowingError is all about errors when RPython compiler building control flow graphs. Here are some common causes for FlowingError.

unsupported operations

invalid exception class

cannot import modules

local variable referenced before assignment

global name is not defined

etc.

The flowing gives a simple example to illustrate FlowingError.

def compiler_error(arg):
    return v

def entry_point(argv): compiler_error(argv[1]); return 0
def target(*args): return entry_point

In addition to report FlowingError, the compiler will give you some detailed explanation.

 [translation:ERROR] FlowingError:

 global name 'v' is not defined

 In <FunctionGraph of (flowing_error:1)compiler_error at 0x717bde0>:
 Happened at file flowing_error.py line 2

         return v

 Processing block:
 block@9[argv_0] is a <class 'rpython.flowspace.flowcontext.SpamBlock'>
 in (flowing_error:4)entry_point
 containing the following operations:
       v0 = getitem(argv_0, (1))
       v1 = simple_call((function compiler_error), v0)
 --end--

When RPython detected a control flow which always raise an exception, it will report FlowingError.

def compiler_error(arg):
    n = 10 * (1/0)
    return n

def entry_point(argv): compiler_error(argv[1]); return 0
def target(*args): return entry_point

In the above example, 1/0 always raises a ZeroDivisionError exception.

 [translation:ERROR] FlowingError:

 div(1, 0) always raises <type 'exceptions.ZeroDivisionError'>: integer division by zero

 In <FunctionGraph of (flowing2_error:1)compiler_error at 0x66bd1d8>:
 Happened at file flowing2_error.py line 2

         n = 10 * (1/0)

 Processing block:
 block@9[argv_0] is a <class 'rpython.flowspace.flowcontext.SpamBlock'>
 in (flowing2_error:5)entry_point
 containing the following operations:
       v0 = getitem(argv_0, (1))
       v1 = simple_call((function compiler_error), v0)
 --end--

Compilation Errors

AnnotatorError

UnionError

FlowingError

`AnnotatorError`

`UnionError`

`FlowingError`