# 2.1.0: NullPointerException, not sure where to start **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [December 16, 2015, 11:49pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-1-0-nullpointerexception-not-sure-where-to-start/37419 "2015-12-16T23:49:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cpsubrian](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/cpsubrian/32/6677_2.png) [@cpsubrian](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/cpsubrian)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 11:49pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-1-0-nullpointerexception-not-sure-where-to-start/37419/1 "2015-12-16T23:49:58Z")
With elasticsearch 2.1.0 I'm getting the following errors across 4 of the 5 shards with a pretty simple search. From the error messaging alone I'm not even sure where to start. Command: ```auto curl -XGET http://localhost:9200/member_site/attachment/_search?pretty --data-binary "@/tmp/queries/test4.json" ``` test4.json ```auto { "size": 20, "from": 0, "query": { "query_string": { "query": "attachment", "lenient": true, "default_operator": "AND" } } } ``` ERrors: ```auto [2015-12-16 23:46:29,300][DEBUG][action.search.type] [Misty Knight] [member_site][0], node[yrZlGlg5RaiVWiegVhWTUw], [P], v[2], s[STARTED], a[id=_8XTZ5sWQhSreZwfkqTaxg]: Failed to execute [org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchRequest@410756ce] lastShard [true] RemoteTransportException[[Misty Knight][127.0.0.1:9300][indices:data/read/search[phase/query]]]; nested: QueryPhaseExecutionException[Query Failed [Failed to execute main query]]; nested: NullPointerException; Caused by: QueryPhaseExecutionException[Query Failed [Failed to execute main query]]; nested: NullPointerException; at org.elasticsearch.search.query.QueryPhase.execute(QueryPhase.java:343) at org.elasticsearch.search.query.QueryPhase.execute(QueryPhase.java:106) at org.elasticsearch.search.SearchService.loadOrExecuteQueryPhase(SearchService.java:363) at org.elasticsearch.search.SearchService.executeQueryPhase(SearchService.java:375) at org.elasticsearch.search.action.SearchServiceTransportAction$SearchQueryTransportHandler.messageReceived(SearchServiceTransportAction.java:368) at org.elasticsearch.search.action.SearchServiceTransportAction$SearchQueryTransportHandler.messageReceived(SearchServiceTransportAction.java:365) at org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportService$4.doRun(TransportService.java:350) at org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.AbstractRunnable.run(AbstractRunnable.java:37) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745) Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException at org.apache.lucene.index.OrdTermState.copyFrom(OrdTermState.java:37) at org.apache.lucene.codecs.BlockTermState.copyFrom(BlockTermState.java:56) at org.apache.lucene.codecs.lucene50.Lucene50PostingsFormat$IntBlockTermState.copyFrom(Lucene50PostingsFormat.java:475) at org.apache.lucene.codecs.blocktree.SegmentTermsEnum.seekExact(SegmentTermsEnum.java:1014) at org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.all.AllTermQuery$1.scorer(AllTermQuery.java:152) at org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.all.AllTermQuery$1.scorer(AllTermQuery.java:102) at org.apache.lucene.search.Weight.bulkScorer(Weight.java:135) at org.apache.lucene.search.BooleanWeight.booleanScorer(BooleanWeight.java:201) at org.apache.lucene.search.BooleanWeight.bulkScorer(BooleanWeight.java:233) at org.apache.lucene.search.IndexSearcher.search(IndexSearcher.java:769) at org.apache.lucene.search.IndexSearcher.search(IndexSearcher.java:486) at org.elasticsearch.search.query.QueryPhase.execute(QueryPhase.java:324) ... 10 more ``` ---
**Author:** ![mikemccand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@mikemccand](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mikemccand)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 10:14am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-1-0-nullpointerexception-not-sure-where-to-start/37419/2 "2015-12-17T10:14:33Z")
Hmm that's no good: I suspect this is a bug in AllTermQuery. I'll dig... You must be using index-time boosting ( [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/2.1/index-boost.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/2.1/index-boost.html) )? AllTermQuery should only be used in that case. If you use query-time boosting instead, which is better for a number of reasons listed on that page (see the warning), you would side-step this bug. ---
**Author:** ![mikemccand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@mikemccand](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mikemccand)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 10:33am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-1-0-nullpointerexception-not-sure-where-to-start/37419/3 "2015-12-17T10:33:06Z")
OK I found the bug: [https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/pull/15506](https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/pull/15506) Thanks for reporting! Also, it's not good to pass "lenient": true in your "query\_string" request: this can only hide what could be serious errors in how you are querying elasticsearch! ---
**Author:** ![cpsubrian](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/cpsubrian/32/6677_2.png) [@cpsubrian](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/cpsubrian)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-1-0-nullpointerexception-not-sure-where-to-start/37419/4 "2015-12-17T21:18:30Z")
Hey thanks for digging into this, and glad I could help uncover a bug! You are correct that I'm using index-time boosting. If I wanted to replace that with query boosting, I'd need to enumerate every field I want to search, correct? Lets say I have 10 analyzed string fields. If I understand correctly those will all be included in the default `_all` field which query\_string search hits by default. So if I remove boost from the mappings, I'd need to change all the query\_string searches to include the array of fields with boosting applied (like `'title^2.5`). Just want to make sure there is not an easier syntax (such as just listing all the field boosts generically without having to modify the actual query). ---
**Author:** ![cpsubrian](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/cpsubrian/32/6677_2.png) [@cpsubrian](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/cpsubrian)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-1-0-nullpointerexception-not-sure-where-to-start/37419/5 "2015-12-17T23:07:03Z")
Just to report back: avoiding index-time boosting and switching to query boosting did indeed dodge the bug. Getting rid of lenient will be trickier because it could reveal lots of "bugs"! ---
**Author:** ![mikemccand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@mikemccand](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mikemccand)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-1-0-nullpointerexception-not-sure-where-to-start/37419/6 "2015-12-18T16:52:52Z")
> If I wanted to replace that with query boosting, I'd need to enumerate every field I want to search, correct? That's correct, per-query you have to set the query-time boosts. You could maybe keep using `_all` for those fields that are not boosted, and then add in additional query clauses only for those fields like `title` that you need to boost. Thanks for confirming that not using index-time boosting sidesteps the bug! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 11:29pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-1-0-nullpointerexception-not-sure-where-to-start/37419/7 "2017-07-05T23:29:56Z")