Package is invalid. Details: 'illegal path (absolute or relative with '..')

[Hans]

A small number of users of my extension are getting the following error message when installing it from the Web Store:

Package is invalid. Details: 'illegal path (absolute or relative with '..'):/images/icon_19x19_disabled.png'

This error maps to the following line in the extension's manifest file:

    "default_icon": "/images/icon_19x19_disabled.png",

The common thread seems to be that these users are all running Chrome v23.0.1271.xx. 

I could not reproduce the issue on v24.0.1306.1 canary. In fact, removing the leading slash from all icon references in the manifest file resulted in an "Invalid Manifest file" error upon installation of the extension.

What are the rules with respect to the format of extension file references in the manifest, and are there any known issues related to the above error?

Thanks for any insight you may be able to offer.

Sincerely,

Hans Meyer

[Zane Claes]

Apparently the bug has to do with the preceding slash. Before, both variations worked, but now only "icons/actions/img.png" works (NOT "/icons/actions/img.png")

On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:24:32 AM UTC-8, Rob wrote:

Same problem here...

I've been trying to figure out what causes this bug for about an hour now, but haven'd been able to crack it yet :/

Canary (25.0.1323.1 canary) works just fine with a freshly updated extension of mine (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fontier/dkbamaalakfhckcidgiigdinhcncaeae) but Chrome (23.0.1271.64) doesn't like it.

I've tried to change the path to the 'default_icon' to various different values, but all I got was 'Package is invalid' and 'Invalid Manifest'.

It seems that this bug is in Chrome and it's been there for about 3 weeks now, which really is not good :)

Dear Chrome, get well soon!

Sincerely Yours,

Rob

[Hans]

Interestingly, though, removing the preceding slash yields an "Invalid Manifest file" error on a more recent Chrome version (v24.0.1306.1 canary; refer to my original post in this thread).

Also just tested again WITH leading slashes against Chrome 25.0.1324.0 canary and it works fine.

I would try to elevate this, but this bug is already in the Chrome production version and seems to be fixed in subsequent versions, so it may just be a matter of waiting out the next release?

Hans

[Hans]

Good work Rob. Thanks to your persistence, I revisited this while heeding your caveats and found that this is working for me as well now.

I was aware of the potential web store deployment delay, but I guess I wasn't diligent in checking the version of the extension I was downloading because the adjusted manifest file (no leading slashes in icon paths) seems to be working fine in 25.0.1329.0 canary according to my latest test. However, I do think this was an unintentional update to Chrome because versions subsequent to 23.0.1271.xx do work with the leading slash paths.

Hans

On Thursday, November 15, 2012 5:35:22 PM UTC-7, Rob wrote:

Hi,

It is the trailing slash indeed. Strange that the Chrome team changed such a thing without documenting it.

It took me ages to figure it out because I didn't realise that the server doesn't update the extension straight away and I was always looking at older versions with the errors...

I wrote a blog post about my journey and the solution, I hope it helps others and saves some time:

http://heartcode.github.com/blog/2012/11/15/fixing-the-trailing-slash-issue-in-the-invalid-chrome-extension-manifest-file/

Cheers,

Rob