phonegap.js crashes android app

Question

I'm having this weird problem, where including the phonegap.js file in my project causes the app to crash on both the android emulator and my phone. I got the latest file from GitHub, so I can't see why this isn't working.

This happens even if I try to build the sample project that's included in the PhoneGap download...

Console log:

[2010-12-17 11:05:14 - sample] Android Launch!
[2010-12-17 11:05:14 - sample] adb is running normally.
[2010-12-17 11:05:14 - sample] Performing com.phonegap.sample.sample activity launch
[2010-12-17 11:05:14 - sample] Automatic Target Mode: using existing emulator 'emulator-5554' running compatible AVD 'FirstDevice'
[2010-12-17 11:05:16 - sample] Uploading sample.apk onto device 'emulator-5554'
[2010-12-17 11:05:16 - sample] Installing sample.apk...
[2010-12-17 11:05:21 - sample] Success!
[2010-12-17 11:05:22 - sample] Starting activity com.phonegap.sample.sample on device emulator-5554
[2010-12-17 11:05:23 - sample] ActivityManager: Starting: Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER] cmp=com.phonegap.sample/.sample }

LogCat:

12-17 11:13:12.533: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(373): >>>>>> AndroidRuntime START com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit <<<<<<
12-17 11:13:12.533: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(373): CheckJNI is ON
12-17 11:13:13.453: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(373): Calling main entry com.android.commands.pm.Pm
12-17 11:13:13.503: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(373): Shutting down VM
12-17 11:13:13.513: DEBUG/dalvikvm(373): GC_CONCURRENT freed 101K, 71% free 297K/1024K, external 0K/0K, paused 2ms+2ms
12-17 11:13:13.523: INFO/AndroidRuntime(373): NOTE: attach of thread 'Binder Thread #3' failed
12-17 11:13:13.523: DEBUG/dalvikvm(373): Debugger has detached; object registry had 1 entries
12-17 11:13:14.113: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(383): >>>>>> AndroidRuntime START com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit <<<<<<
12-17 11:13:14.113: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(383): CheckJNI is ON
12-17 11:13:14.853: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(383): Calling main entry com.android.commands.am.Am
12-17 11:13:14.894: INFO/ActivityManager(62): Starting: Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER] flg=0x10000000 cmp=com.phonegap.sample/.sample } from pid 383
12-17 11:13:14.973: INFO/ActivityManager(62): Start proc com.phonegap.sample for activity com.phonegap.sample/.sample: pid=391 uid=10031 gids={1006, 3003, 1015}
12-17 11:13:14.983: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(383): Shutting down VM
12-17 11:13:15.053: DEBUG/dalvikvm(383): GC_CONCURRENT freed 102K, 69% free 319K/1024K, external 0K/0K, paused 2ms+2ms
12-17 11:13:15.093: INFO/AndroidRuntime(383): NOTE: attach of thread 'Binder Thread #3' failed
12-17 11:13:15.143: DEBUG/dalvikvm(383): Debugger has detached; object registry had 1 entries
12-17 11:13:15.523: DEBUG/dalvikvm(33): GC_EXPLICIT freed 11K, 54% free 2520K/5379K, external 716K/1038K, paused 467ms
12-17 11:13:15.663: DEBUG/dalvikvm(33): GC_EXPLICIT freed <1K, 54% free 2520K/5379K, external 716K/1038K, paused 132ms
12-17 11:13:15.772: DEBUG/dalvikvm(33): GC_EXPLICIT freed <1K, 54% free 2520K/5379K, external 716K/1038K, paused 113ms
12-17 11:13:16.333: INFO/ARMAssembler(62): generated scanline__00000177:03515104_00001002_00000000 [ 87 ipp] (110 ins) at [0x43aff6f0:0x43aff8a8] in 686000 ns
12-17 11:13:17.493: INFO/ActivityManager(62): Displayed com.phonegap.sample/.sample: +2s540ms
12-17 11:13:18.163: DEBUG/szipinf(391): Initializing inflate state
12-17 11:13:18.173: DEBUG/szipinf(391): Initializing zlib to inflate
12-17 11:13:18.573: WARN/dalvikvm(391): JNI WARNING: jarray 0x40567330 points to non-array object (Ljava/lang/String;)
12-17 11:13:18.593: INFO/dalvikvm(391): "WebViewCoreThread" prio=5 tid=9 NATIVE
12-17 11:13:18.603: INFO/dalvikvm(391):   | group="main" sCount=0 dsCount=0 obj=0x4051b880 self=0x1af760
12-17 11:13:18.603: INFO/dalvikvm(391):   | sysTid=400 nice=0 sched=0/0 cgrp=default handle=1778000
12-17 11:13:18.623: INFO/dalvikvm(391):   | schedstat=( 851184092 892639082 140 )
12-17 11:13:18.633: INFO/dalvikvm(391):   at android.webkit.LoadListener.nativeFinished(Native Method)
12-17 11:13:18.633: INFO/dalvikvm(391):   at android.webkit.LoadListener.nativeFinished(Native Method)
12-17 11:13:18.653: INFO/dalvikvm(391):   at android.webkit.LoadListener.tearDown(LoadListener.java:1200)
12-17 11:13:18.653: INFO/dalvikvm(391):   at android.webkit.LoadListener.handleEndData(LoadListener.java:721)
12-17 11:13:18.653: INFO/dalvikvm(391):   at android.webkit.LoadListener.handleMessage(LoadListener.java:219)
12-17 11:13:18.672: INFO/dalvikvm(391):   at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
12-17 11:13:18.672: INFO/dalvikvm(391):   at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
12-17 11:13:18.672: INFO/dalvikvm(391):   at android.webkit.WebViewCore$WebCoreThread.run(WebViewCore.java:629)
12-17 11:13:18.672: INFO/dalvikvm(391):   at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1019)
12-17 11:13:18.672: ERROR/dalvikvm(391): VM aborting
12-17 11:13:18.887: INFO/DEBUG(31): *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
12-17 11:13:18.887: INFO/DEBUG(31): Build fingerprint: 'generic/sdk/generic:2.3/GRH55/79397:eng/test-keys'
12-17 11:13:18.893: INFO/DEBUG(31): pid: 391, tid: 400  >>> com.phonegap.sample <<<
12-17 11:13:18.893: INFO/DEBUG(31): signal 11 (SIGSEGV), code 1 (SEGV_MAPERR), fault addr deadd00d
12-17 11:13:18.893: INFO/DEBUG(31):  r0 fffffebc  r1 deadd00d  r2 00000026  r3 00000000
12-17 11:13:18.893: INFO/DEBUG(31):  r4 81da45c8  r5 40567330  r6 81d8592c  r7 001b2a48
12-17 11:13:18.893: INFO/DEBUG(31):  r8 43640b58  r9 42dd1ecc  10 42dd1eb4  fp 4168d82c
12-17 11:13:18.893: INFO/DEBUG(31):  ip 81da4728  sp 43640410  lr afd19375  pc 81d45a02  cpsr 20000030
12-17 11:13:19.183: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #00  pc 00045a02  /system/lib/libdvm.so
12-17 11:13:19.183: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #01  pc 000376fc  /system/lib/libdvm.so
12-17 11:13:19.183: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #02  pc 000399c4  /system/lib/libdvm.so
12-17 11:13:19.193: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #03  pc 0003a4a0  /system/lib/libdvm.so
12-17 11:13:19.203: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #04  pc 0032b6d6  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.203: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #05  pc 002a4da4  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.203: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #06  pc 001a6136  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.213: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #07  pc 002a5870  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.223: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #08  pc 00359e36  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.223: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #09  pc 0035d30e  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.223: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #10  pc 003638be  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.233: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #11  pc 0019f6fa  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.233: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #12  pc 0019f780  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.243: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #13  pc 001a3d8a  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.243: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #14  pc 000d0dca  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.253: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #15  pc 000d0f28  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.253: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #16  pc 000d106e  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.253: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #17  pc 000ddef0  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.263: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #18  pc 000ddf62  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.263: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #19  pc 000f3ce2  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.273: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #20  pc 002739ae  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.273: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #21  pc 000eac5e  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.273: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #22  pc 001b152c  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
12-17 11:13:19.283: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #23  pc 00017d34  /system/lib/libdvm.so
12-17 11:13:19.283: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #24  pc 00048ec0  /system/lib/libdvm.so
12-17 11:13:19.283: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #25  pc 00041a6a  /system/lib/libdvm.so
12-17 11:13:19.293: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #26  pc 0001cf94  /system/lib/libdvm.so
12-17 11:13:19.303: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #27  pc 0002209c  /system/lib/libdvm.so
12-17 11:13:19.303: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #28  pc 00020f90  /system/lib/libdvm.so
12-17 11:13:19.313: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #29  pc 0005f328  /system/lib/libdvm.so
12-17 11:13:19.313: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #30  pc 0005f54e  /system/lib/libdvm.so
12-17 11:13:19.313: INFO/DEBUG(31):          #31  pc 00053b06  /system/lib/libdvm.so
12-17 11:13:19.313: INFO/DEBUG(31): code around pc:
12-17 11:13:19.313: INFO/DEBUG(31): 81d459e0 447a4479 ed0cf7d1 20004c09 ee34f7d1 
12-17 11:13:19.323: INFO/DEBUG(31): 81d459f0 447c4808 6bdb5823 d0002b00 49064798 
12-17 11:13:19.323: INFO/DEBUG(31): 81d45a00 700a2226 eea0f7d1 0004355f 0004511d 
12-17 11:13:19.323: INFO/DEBUG(31): 81d45a10 0005ebd2 fffffebc deadd00d b510b40e 
12-17 11:13:19.323: INFO/DEBUG(31): 81d45a20 4c0a4b09 447bb083 aa05591b 6b5bca02 
12-17 11:13:19.323: INFO/DEBUG(31): code around lr:
12-17 11:13:19.333: INFO/DEBUG(31): afd19354 b0834a0d 589c447b 26009001 686768a5 
12-17 11:13:19.333: INFO/DEBUG(31): afd19364 220ce008 2b005eab 1c28d003 47889901 
12-17 11:13:19.333: INFO/DEBUG(31): afd19374 35544306 d5f43f01 2c006824 b003d1ee 
12-17 11:13:19.333: INFO/DEBUG(31): afd19384 bdf01c30 000281a8 ffffff88 1c0fb5f0 
12-17 11:13:19.333: INFO/DEBUG(31): afd19394 43551c3d a904b087 1c16ac01 604d9004 
12-17 11:13:19.333: INFO/DEBUG(31): stack:
12-17 11:13:19.333: INFO/DEBUG(31):     436403d0  00000015  
12-17 11:13:19.333: INFO/DEBUG(31):     436403d4  afd18407  /system/lib/libc.so
12-17 11:13:19.333: INFO/DEBUG(31):     436403d8  afd4270c  /system/lib/libc.so
12-17 11:13:19.343: INFO/DEBUG(31):     436403dc  afd426b8  /system/lib/libc.so
12-17 11:13:19.343: INFO/DEBUG(31):     436403e0  00000000  
12-17 11:13:19.343: INFO/DEBUG(31):     436403e4  afd19375  /system/lib/libc.so
12-17 11:13:19.353: INFO/DEBUG(31):     436403e8  001af760  [heap]
12-17 11:13:19.353: INFO/DEBUG(31):     436403ec  afd183d9  /system/lib/libc.so
12-17 11:13:19.353: INFO/DEBUG(31):     436403f0  001b2a48  [heap]
12-17 11:13:19.353: INFO/DEBUG(31):     436403f4  0005ebd2  [heap]
12-17 11:13:19.353: INFO/DEBUG(31):     436403f8  40567330  /dev/ashmem/dalvik-heap (deleted)
12-17 11:13:19.363: INFO/DEBUG(31):     436403fc  81d8592c  /system/lib/libdvm.so
12-17 11:13:19.363: INFO/DEBUG(31):     43640400  001b2a48  [heap]
12-17 11:13:19.363: INFO/DEBUG(31):     43640404  afd18437  /system/lib/libc.so
12-17 11:13:19.363: INFO/DEBUG(31):     43640408  df002777  
12-17 11:13:19.363: INFO/DEBUG(31):     4364040c  e3a070ad  
12-17 11:13:19.363: INFO/DEBUG(31): #00 43640410  00000001  
12-17 11:13:19.363: INFO/DEBUG(31):     43640414  81d37701  /system/lib/libdvm.so
12-17 11:13:19.363: INFO/DEBUG(31): #01 43640418  00000001  
12-17 11:13:19.363: INFO/DEBUG(31):     4364041c  81d399c9  /system/lib/libdvm.so
12-17 11:13:22.753: INFO/BootReceiver(62): Copying /data/tombstones/tombstone_09 to DropBox (SYSTEM_TOMBSTONE)
12-17 11:13:22.943: DEBUG/dalvikvm(62): GC_CONCURRENT freed 876K, 48% free 4240K/8135K, external 2269K/3469K, paused 9ms+10ms
12-17 11:13:23.133: DEBUG/dalvikvm(62): GC_FOR_MALLOC freed 348K, 47% free 4318K/8135K, external 2269K/3469K, paused 147ms
12-17 11:13:23.243: DEBUG/Zygote(33): Process 391 terminated by signal (11)
12-17 11:13:23.253: ERROR/InputDispatcher(62): channel '406defc8 com.phonegap.sample/com.phonegap.sample.sample (server)' ~ Consumer closed input channel or an error occurred.  events=0x8
12-17 11:13:23.253: ERROR/InputDispatcher(62): channel '406defc8 com.phonegap.sample/com.phonegap.sample.sample (server)' ~ Channel is unrecoverably broken and will be disposed!
12-17 11:13:23.323: DEBUG/dalvikvm(62): GC_FOR_MALLOC freed 134K, 47% free 4376K/8135K, external 2269K/3469K, paused 174ms
12-17 11:13:23.323: INFO/ActivityManager(62): Process com.phonegap.sample (pid 391) has died.
12-17 11:13:23.333: INFO/WindowManager(62): WIN DEATH: Window{406defc8 com.phonegap.sample/com.phonegap.sample.sample paused=false}
12-17 11:13:23.542: DEBUG/dalvikvm(124): GC_EXPLICIT freed 61K, 51% free 2836K/5767K, external 1973K/2288K, paused 907ms
12-17 11:13:23.693: WARN/InputManagerService(62): Got RemoteException sending setActive(false) notification to pid 391 uid 

10031

Sorry about the gigantic log posts, but I don't know what is of importance here...

Answer 1

Are you by any chance using the Android 2.3 simulator? There is a known bug in the 2.3 simulator where the JavaScript->Java bridge is dysfunctional.

See the following Android issue for more details (and star it so that the Google team knows this is a big deal!):

http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=12987

Apparently this is not an issue on real devices running Android 2.3 (anecdotally this has been reported).

Answer 2

This appears to actually be a bug introduced in Android 2.3 in the JSC javascript engine that is used by the android emulator as well as on certain low-memory devices. The majority of devices running Android 2.3 meet the minimum specs for Google's v8 javascript engine, which is why you don't see this problem on (most) devices.

See my comment here: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=12987#c117