The problem with ACRA

ACRA is a popular, open-source crash report framework for Android. It however has a fundamental flaw: it is quite likely to cause an ANR when reporting a crash. Here is why …

In a nutshell, ACRA adds an uncaught exception handler, and in the handler starts a thread to do the work of sending the report and return normally from the custom uncaught exception handler method. The work done by the send thread can be arbitrary (it’s a plugin interface), but it will typically send the report to a server somewhere. When the thread is done, it either calls the default uncaught exception handler or calls System.exit(), depending on its configuration.

The problem is what happens when you return from the uncaught exception handler method without either calling the uncaught exception handler, or calling System.exit(). Try it yourself,

public class MainActivity extends Activity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        Thread.setDefaultUncaughtExceptionHandler(new Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler() {
            @Override
            public void uncaughtException(Thread thread, Throwable ex) {
                ex.printStackTrace();
                // don't call default uncaught exception handler
            }
        });
    }

    @Override
    protected void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        throw new AssertionError("hello, assertion.");
    }
}

When run, this causes an ANR. If ACRA’s send thread takes longer than the ANR timeout (~5 seconds), then it too will cause an ANR for the same reason. Since the send thread is typically performing network operations, it is quite common for it to block for longer periods of time. If the use clicks “wait” on the ANR dialog, the app process is killed and the report it not immediately send. This is not a problem, since ACRA won’t delete it’s file cached copy of the crash report until the send thread responds that it successfully sent the report.

This is not all terribly bad. The user will see an ANR dialog in stead of a force close dialog. The report will be sent at a later time, probably the next time the app is started by the user. It could however be fixed. ACRA shouldn’t even try to send the crash report when it’s crashing. It should simply write the cache copy to the file system, on the main thread, and then allow the app to exit normally. It can send the report during normal app operation the next time it is started.

As a side note, ACRA’s “silent mode” should be avoided. This causes ACRA to not call the default Android uncaught exception handler and simply kill the process and call System.exit() (which is redundant, but anyway). However, it skips the logic in the default Android uncaught exception handler. This includes calling out to Google’s crash report service. It also hides the force close dialog which is confusing to the user.