starting private network node stops with "runtime error: invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference" filter_system.go:434

[paulvi]

Hi there,

Geth stops with nil pointer derefence error when running new private network.
While something may be not implemented, a software should not stop without pointing to reason of error.

System information

Geth version: geth version

E:\Geth>geth version
Geth
Version: 1.8.2-stable
Git Commit: b8b9f7f4476a30a0aaf6077daade6ae77f969960
Architecture: amd64

OS & Version: Windows/Linux/OSX
Windows 7

Expected behaviour

node can start

Actual behaviour

node fails with nil pointer derefence error

Steps to reproduce the behaviour

1. modify previouly successful genesis.json (generated by puppeth)
   (genesis json shown fully in Why puppeth generates list of 256 accounts? #16676)
2. geth init
3. geth run (see below)

Backtrace

INFO [05-04|15:05:34] Successfully wrote genesis state         database=lightchaindata                          hash=61c7cc…b502fb

E:\Geth>geth --datadir .bc5202/ --networkid 5202 --syncmode "full" --port 35202 --nodiscover --nousb --rpc --rpcaddr "localhost" --rpcport 8502 --rpcapi "admin,
personal,db,eth,net,web3,txpool,miner" --txpool.pricelimit 0 --mine --gasprice 0 --etherbase 0x31a5e0e68b4ca721a2005144f6c32f6d1c1c4b99 --unlock 0x31a5e0e68b4ca
721a2005144f6c32f6d1c1c4b99 --password password31.txt --extradata node1
INFO [05-04|15:07:59] Maximum peer count                       ETH=25 LES=0 total=25
INFO [05-04|15:07:59] Starting peer-to-peer node               instance=Geth/v1.8.2-stable-b8b9f7f4/windows-amd64/go1.9.2
INFO [05-04|15:07:59] Allocated cache and file handles         database=E:\\Geth\\.bc5202\\geth\\chaindata cache=768 handles=1024
WARN [05-04|15:08:00] Upgrading database to use lookup entries
INFO [05-04|15:08:00] Initialised chain configuration          config="{ChainID: 5202 Homestead: 0 DAO: <nil> DAOSupport: false EIP150: 0 EIP155: 0 EIP158: 0 By
zantium: 0 Constantinople: <nil> Engine: clique}"
INFO [05-04|15:08:00] Initialising Ethereum protocol           versions="[63 62]" network=5202
INFO [05-04|15:08:00] Database deduplication successful        deduped=0
INFO [05-04|15:08:00] Loaded most recent local header          number=0 hash=61c7cc…b502fb td=1
INFO [05-04|15:08:00] Loaded most recent local full block      number=0 hash=61c7cc…b502fb td=1
INFO [05-04|15:08:00] Loaded most recent local fast block      number=0 hash=61c7cc…b502fb td=1
WARN [05-04|15:08:00] Sanitizing invalid txpool price limit    provided=0 updated=1
INFO [05-04|15:08:00] Regenerated local transaction journal    transactions=0 accounts=0
INFO [05-04|15:08:00] Starting P2P networking
INFO [05-04|15:08:00] RLPx listener up                         self="enode://1b77169a3d234f83646b0f91f6aec0c7dc2074da6c2a5a900d6c72116a0036567cee4c69panic: 
runtime error: invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference
[signal 0xc0000005 code=0x0 addr=0x0 pc=0xab2c57]

goroutine 82 [running]:
github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/eth/filters.(*EventSystem).eventLoop(0xc0422ed500)
        C:/gopath/src/github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/eth/filters/filter_system.go:434 +0x337
created by github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/eth/filters.NewEventSystem
        C:/gopath/src/github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/eth/filters/filter_system.go:113 +0x10b

Code in question

https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/blob/release/1.8/eth/filters/filter_system.go#L113

https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/blob/release/1.8/eth/filters/filter_system.go#L434

[paulvi]

TODO check in 1.8.8 https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/releases/tag/v1.8.8

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.