Error Reference

Complete reference of validation errors, their causes, and fixes.

Error Type Index

FileDiff

Generated file content differs from what's on disk.

File diff detected: community/platform/platform-resources/generated/META-INF/intellij.moduleSets.vcs.xml
  Change type: MODIFY

Cause: Running "Generate Product Layouts" detected changes that need to be applied.

Fix: The generator auto-applies diffs. Commit the changes or run the generator again.

Missing Dependency in Product

Product: GoLand

  ✗ Missing: 'intellij.platform.polySymbols'
    Needed by: intellij.platform.vcs.impl
    Suggestion: Add module set: symbols

Cause: A module in the product depends on another module that isn't included.

Fixes (in order of preference):

1. Add the suggested module set to the product's getProductContentDescriptor()
2. Add individual module via module() or embeddedModule() if no set exists
3. For cross-plugin deps with non-critical loading → add plugin to knownPlugins

Self-Contained Set Validation

❌ Module set 'core.platform' is marked selfContained but has unresolvable dependencies

  ✗ Missing: 'fleet.kernel'
    Needed by: intellij.platform.kernel

💡 To fix:
1. Add the missing modules/sets to 'core.platform'
2. Or remove selfContained=true if this set composes with others

Cause: A module set with selfContained = true has dependencies outside the set.

Fixes:

1. Add missing modules to the set (preferred for truly standalone sets)
2. Remove selfContained = true if the set is designed to compose with others

Duplicate Content Modules

❌ ERROR: Duplicate modules found across 3 module set(s)

  ✗ Module 'intellij.platform.vcs.impl' appears in:
      - vcs
      - ide.common
    → Suggested fix: Remove from: ide.common

📋 Each module must belong to exactly one module set.

Cause: Same module is declared in multiple module sets or added via both moduleSet() and module().

Runtime impact: Causes "Plugin has duplicated content modules declarations" error.

Fix: Remove duplicate declarations. Keep module in only one set.

Plugin Dependency Errors

Unresolvable Module Dependency

❌ Plugin 'intellij.settingsRepository' has unresolvable content module dependencies

  ✗ Missing: 'intellij.libraries.sshd.osgi' (not in any known plugin or module set)
    Needed by:
      └─ plugin.xml

Proposed patch: Add allowMissingDependencies to the product spec.
--- a/build/src/org/jetbrains/intellij/build/IdeaUltimateProperties.kt
+++ b/build/src/org/jetbrains/intellij/build/IdeaUltimateProperties.kt
@@ -379,1 +379,4 @@
 override fun getProductContentDescriptor(): ProductModulesContentSpec = productModules {
+  allowMissingDependencies(
+    "intellij.libraries.sshd.osgi",
+  )

Fixes:

• If dependency should be available: Declare as <content> in a plugin, or add to module set
• If plugin isn't bundled: This may be expected behavior

Filtered Dependency

Plugin 'intellij.micronaut' has unresolvable content module dependencies

  * Missing: 'intellij.javaee.jpa' (auto-inferred JPS dependency, filtered by config)
    Needed by:
      └─ intellij.micronaut.data (content module)

Cause: Dependency was auto-inferred from JPS but filtered or suppressed (e.g., by suppressions.json or allowed-missing config).

Fixes:

1. Add to pluginAllowedMissingDependencies in config
2. Or add explicit <module name="..."/> to content module descriptor
3. If intentionally suppressed in suppressions.json, no error should be reported; if it is, treat as validator bug

Per-Product Breakdown

❌ Plugin 'intellij.myPlugin' has unresolvable content module dependencies

  ✗ Missing: 'intellij.some.module'
    Unresolved in products:
      └─ GoLand (not bundled)
      └─ CLion (not bundled)

Fix: Either bundle the dependency plugin in those products, or ensure it's in a module set.

Plugin-to-Plugin Dependency Error

❌ Plugin 'intellij.foo' has unresolvable plugin dependencies

  * Unresolved plugin IDs:
    * com.intellij.bar
  * Missing in products:
    * GoLand: com.intellij.bar

Cause: A plugin declared a dependency on another plugin that is not bundled in the same product, or the dependency plugin cannot be resolved to a plugin node in the graph.

Fixes:

1. Bundle the dependency plugin in the same products as the depending plugin
2. Remove the dependency if it's no longer required
3. Ensure the dependency plugin has a valid plugin.xml so it registers in the graph

Structural Loading Violations

Emitted by PluginContentStructureValidator (ruleName pluginContentStructureValidation).

❌ Plugin 'intellij.myPlugin' has structural violations

  ✗ intellij.my.required.module (REQUIRED) depends on:
      └─ intellij.my.optional.module (OPTIONAL) - violates loading hierarchy

Cause: Module loading constraints are violated:

Auto-Fix: For non-DSL plugins, PluginContentStructureValidator automatically adds loading="required" to the dependency. See StructuralViolationFix.

Manual Fix (for DSL-defined plugins): Update the module set definition to use requiredModule() instead of module().

XInclude Resolution Error

❌ xi:include resolution failed

  Plugin: intellij.myPlugin
  Path: META-INF/NonExistent.xml
  Debug: Searched in: [module1, module2]

Cause: An xi:include directive references a resource that doesn't exist.

Fixes:

1. Create the missing file at the expected location
2. Fix the path in the xi:include directive
3. Remove the xi:include if no longer needed
4. Use optional = true in deprecatedInclude() if file may not exist

Missing Module Sets

❌ Product references missing module sets

  ✗ Missing: 'nonexistent.set'

Cause: Product references a module set that doesn't exist.

Fix: Either create the module set or remove the reference.

Pluginized Module-Set Reference

❌ Product 'IDEA' references pluginized module set 'debugger.streams' as a regular module set

  * Pluginized module sets are standalone bundled plugin wrappers and are not inlined through moduleSet(...) references

Fix:
1. Remove the moduleSet(...) reference to 'debugger.streams'
2. Bundle 'intellij.moduleSet.plugin.debugger.streams' in products that should ship it

Cause: A module set created via plugin(...) is still being used through moduleSet(...) in a product spec or nested under a regular module set.

Fix: Remove the moduleSet() reference and bundle the generated wrapper plugin module instead.

DSL Constraint Errors

Invalid Loading Overrides

❌ Invalid loading overrides for module set 'commercialIdeBase'

The following 2 module(s) are not direct modules of this set:
  ✗ intellij.rd.platform
  ✗ intellij.rd.ui

Note: You cannot override nested set modules.

💡 Hint: You can only override direct modules, not modules from nested sets.
   To override modules from nested sets, reference the nested set directly:

   moduleSet(YourNestedSet()) {
     overrideAsEmbedded("module.name")
   }

Cause: Attempting to override loading mode for modules in nested sets.

Fix: Reference the nested set directly and apply overrides there.

Duplicate Module Alias

❌ Duplicate module alias detected: 'com.intellij.modules.xml'

  Already defined in: module set 'xml'
  Attempted to redefine at: product level

💡 Hint: Module aliases must be unique across the entire product.

Cause: Same alias declared in multiple places.

Fix: Remove duplicate alias declaration.

Redundant Module Set References

❌ Product specification errors: Redundant module set references detected

  ✗ Product 'GoLand': module set 'ssh' is redundant (already nested in 'ide.ultimate')

💡 Hint: Remove redundant module sets from product's getProductContentDescriptor() method.

   Example fix:
   override fun getProductContentDescriptor() = productModules {
     // moduleSet(ssh())           // ← REMOVE (already in ide.ultimate)
     moduleSet(ideUltimate())       // ← KEEP (includes ssh)
   }

Cause: Product explicitly references a module set that's already nested in another set it uses.

Fix: Remove the redundant moduleSet() call.

Auto-Fix: Structural Violations

The generator can automatically fix structural loading violations in non-DSL plugins (those with handwritten plugin.xml files).

How it works:

1. Detection: PluginContentStructureValidator identifies loading constraint violations
2. Fix: fixStructuralViolations() in PluginContentStructureValidator modifies plugin.xml to add loading="required"
3. Output: Generates a diff that's auto-applied during generation

Example auto-fix:

<!-- Before -->
<module name="intellij.my.optional.module"/>

<!-- After (auto-fixed) -->
<module name="intellij.my.optional.module" loading="required"/>

Note: DSL-defined plugins are skipped (their XML is auto-generated). Fix the module set definition instead.

Library Module Dependency Violation

Module intellij.platform.ide.impl depends on library 'Guava' directly.
Use library module 'intellij.libraries.guava' instead.

Auto-Fix: The generator modifies the .iml file:

<!-- Before -->
<orderEntry type="library" name="Guava"/>

<!-- After (auto-fixed) -->
<orderEntry type="module" module-name="intellij.libraries.guava"/>

Test Library in Production Scope

Module intellij.platform.ide.impl has testing libraries in production scope:
  - JUnit5 (COMPILE) → should be TEST scope
Run 'Generate Product Layouts' to fix automatically.

Auto-Fix: Run "Generate Product Layouts" to move test libraries to TEST scope.

Missing Content Module Plugin Dependency

❌ Content module 'intellij.react.ultimate' has IML dependencies on plugin main modules
   but is missing corresponding XML plugin declarations:

  ✗ Missing: <plugin id="com.intellij.css"/>
    IML dependency: intellij.css (main module of com.intellij.css)

💡 Fix: Add <plugin id="com.intellij.css"/> to the content module's XML descriptor

Or suppress temporarily:
  - DSL-defined test plugin modules: add module-level allowedMissingPluginIds in the testPlugin DSL
  - Non-DSL content modules: add suppressPlugins entry to platform/buildScripts/suppressions.json

Cause: Content module has compile dependency in .iml on a plugin's main module, but the module's XML descriptor doesn't declare the plugin dependency.

Runtime impact: NoClassDefFoundError when the content module tries to use classes from the plugin.

Fixes:

1. Add XML declaration (preferred): Add <plugin id="..."/> to the content module's descriptor
2. Remove IML dependency: If the dependency isn't actually needed
3. Suppress temporarily:
   • DSL-defined test plugin modules: use allowedMissingPluginIds
   • Non-DSL content modules: use suppressions.json (contentModules.<module>.suppressPlugins)

Note:

• In --update-suppressions mode, non-DSL cases are reported as warnings and their suppressions are updated in suppressions.json.
• DSL test-plugin allowlists remain in code (allowedMissingPluginIds) and are not written to suppressions.json.

Missing Test Plugin Plugin Dependency

❌ Test plugin 'intellij.rider.tests' is missing plugin dependencies required by its content modules

  ✗ Missing: com.jetbrains.remoteDevelopment
    Needed by: intellij.rider.test.cases.rdct.distributed._test

💡 Fix: Add <plugin id="com.jetbrains.remoteDevelopment"/> to the test plugin's plugin.xml

Cause: A DSL-defined test plugin has content modules whose JPS dependencies include modules owned by production plugins that are resolvable in test scope, but the test plugin's plugin.xml doesn't declare the required <plugin id="..."/> dependency.

Runtime impact: NoClassDefFoundError in tests because classes from the owning plugin are missing from the test classpath.

Fixes:

1. Declare plugin dependency (preferred): Ensure the test plugin generator emits <plugin id="..."/>.
2. Adjust JPS deps: Remove the JPS dependency if it shouldn't be required at runtime.
3. Suppress intentionally: Add the plugin ID to allowedMissingPluginIds in the test plugin spec (or module-level allowedMissingPluginIds for a narrower scope).

Suppressible Errors

These errors are detected during generation and can be suppressed via suppressedErrors in suppressions.json.

Unlike validation errors that check constraints across the model, these errors report issues found during the actual generation process (e.g., when parsing module descriptors).

Non-Standard Descriptor Root

Error [NON_STANDARD_DESCRIPTOR_ROOT]

  * Descriptor uses non-standard XML root element
    Module: intellij.fullLine.yaml
    Path: .../intellij.fullLine.yaml.xml

To suppress: Add to suppressedErrors in suppressions.json:
  "nonStandardRoot:intellij.fullLine.yaml"

Cause: Module descriptor XML uses <dependencies> as root element instead of standard <idea-plugin>.

The dependency generator expects <idea-plugin> as the root element. Descriptors with non-standard roots (like <dependencies>) cannot be parsed for dependency generation.

Fixes:

1. Convert to standard format (preferred): Change root element to <idea-plugin>
2. Suppress if intentional: Add suppression key to suppressedErrors in suppressions.json

Suppression key format: nonStandardRoot:{moduleName}

Example suppression (in suppressions.json):

{
  "suppressedErrors": [
    "nonStandardRoot:intellij.cmake.psi",
    "nonStandardRoot:intellij.fullLine.yaml"
  ]
}

Investigation Tools

Use Plugin Model Analyzer MCP to debug dependency issues:

// Find dependency path between modules
mcp__PluginModelAnalyzer__find_dependency_path(
  fromModule = "intellij.platform.vcs.impl",
  toModule = "intellij.c.core"
)

// Check which module sets contain a dependency
mcp__PluginModelAnalyzer__suggest_module_set_for_modules(
  moduleNames = ["intellij.c.core"]
)

// Check module reachability within a module set
mcp__PluginModelAnalyzer__check_module_reachability(
  moduleName = "intellij.platform.kernel",
  moduleSetName = "core.platform"
)

// Get module info including products/sets
mcp__PluginModelAnalyzer__get_module_info(
  moduleName = "intellij.fullLine.cpp"
)

Investigation Strategy

1. Identify dependency chain: Use find_dependency_path to understand why dep is needed
2. Check if cross-plugin: Is missing module in non-bundled plugin? Check source module's loading
3. Find right fix level:
   • Missing module set → add nested set
   • Product missing set → add to product
   • Cross-plugin with non-critical loading → add to knownPlugins
   • Missing infrastructure → add to module set
4. Verify: Run "Generate Product Layouts" again

See Also

• validation-rules.md - Validation rules and architecture
• docs/validators/README.md - Validator specs
• dsl-api-reference.md - DSL function reference
• module-sets.md - Module set documentation