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#3744 ✓stale
Andrew Williams

ActiveSupport::JSON.encode bogus CircularReferenceError

Reported by Andrew Williams | January 19th, 2010 @ 03:40 AM | in 3.x

in encoding.rb line 68:

raise CircularReferenceError, 'object references itself' if seen.include?(value)

I think this should read something like:

raise CircularReferenceError, 'object references itself' if seen.detect { |i| value.equal?(i) }

i.e. it should test for equality at the object level, rather than via the ==() method (which is occassionally overidden, and can erroneously trigger the CircularReferenceError).

Comments and changes to this ticket

  • Sean Wolfe

    Sean Wolfe March 2nd, 2010 @ 11:07 PM

    I can verify this problem as well. Having 2 datetime types in the json output causes this failure as well.
    I used the described patch above to get around this problem.

  • testman

    testman April 5th, 2010 @ 12:11 AM

    I can verify this as well. This patch suppressed the error at least.

  • Jeremy Kemper

    Jeremy Kemper April 5th, 2010 @ 03:04 AM

    Patch and test welcome!

  • Jeremy Kemper

    Jeremy Kemper April 5th, 2010 @ 03:05 AM

    • State changed from “new” to “open”
    • Assigned user set to “Jeremy Kemper”
  • Lawrence Pit

    Lawrence Pit May 11th, 2010 @ 11:56 AM

    This can be closed, the line currently reads (as suggested above as patch) :

       if @seen.any? { |object| object.equal?(value) }

    Edited by Rohit Arondekar for formating.

  • David Trasbo

    David Trasbo July 1st, 2010 @ 08:31 AM

    • Assigned user changed from “Jeremy Kemper” to “Rohit Arondekar”
    • Importance changed from “” to “Low”

    Can be closed. See above.

  • Rohit Arondekar

    Rohit Arondekar July 1st, 2010 @ 08:33 AM

    • State changed from “open” to “resolved”
  • Josh Delsman

    Josh Delsman July 23rd, 2010 @ 06:10 AM

    • Tag changed from “json activesupport circularreferenceerror” to “activesupport, circularreferenceerror, json”

    This hasn't been fixed. I still see an issue here:

    ActiveSupport::JSON::Encoding::CircularReferenceError: object references itself
from /Users/jdelsman/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-rc2/bundler/gems/rails-b378b19/activesupport/lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:57:in `check_for_circular_references'
from /Users/jdelsman/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-rc2/bundler/gems/rails-b378b19/activesupport/lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:45:in `encode'
from /Users/jdelsman/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-rc2/bundler/gems/rails-b378b19/activesupport/lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:209:in `block in encode_json'
from /Users/jdelsman/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-rc2/bundler/gems/rails-b378b19/activesupport/lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:209:in `each'
from /Users/jdelsman/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-rc2/bundler/gems/rails-b378b19/activesupport/lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:209:in `map'
from /Users/jdelsman/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-rc2/bundler/gems/rails-b378b19/activesupport/lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:209:in `encode_json'
from /Users/jdelsman/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-rc2/bundler/gems/rails-b378b19/activesupport/lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:46:in `block in encode'
from /Users/jdelsman/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-rc2/bundler/gems/rails-b378b19/activesupport/lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:60:in `check_for_circular_references'
from /Users/jdelsman/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-rc2/bundler/gems/rails-b378b19/activesupport/lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:45:in `encode'
from /Users/jdelsman/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-rc2/bundler/gems/rails-b378b19/activesupport/lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:30:in `encode'
from /Users/jdelsman/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-rc2/bundler/gems/rails-b378b19/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/object/to_json.rb:20:in `to_json'
from (irb):10
from /Users/jdelsman/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-rc2/bundler/gems/rails-b378b19/railties/lib/rails/commands/console.rb:44:in `start'
from /Users/jdelsman/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-rc2/bundler/gems/rails-b378b19/railties/lib/rails/commands/console.rb:8:in `start'
from /Users/jdelsman/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-rc2/bundler/gems/rails-b378b19/railties/lib/rails/commands.rb:23:in `<top (required)>'
from script/rails:6:in `require'
from script/rails:6:in `<main>'
  • Will Prater

    Will Prater August 1st, 2010 @ 11:21 PM

    Yes, this does not appear to be fixed in Rails3 beta4. I have a date field and am trying to use to_json with no success.


    ruby-1.8.7-p249 > PayPeriod
    => PayPeriod(id: integer, start_date: date, end_date: date, pay_date: date)

    ruby-1.8.7-p249 > PayPeriod.limit(1) => [#]

    ruby-1.8.7-p249 > PayPeriod.limit(1).to_json
    ActiveSupport::JSON::Encoding::CircularReferenceError: object references itself

    {mkd-extraction-bd47fe22ed55c8d20a7d00c63404312e}

    Any ideas for a temporary fix?

  • Throlkim

    Throlkim October 14th, 2010 @ 10:40 AM

    Getting this error still in Rails 3.0.0:

    ActiveSupport::JSON::Encoding::CircularReferenceError in SearchesController#new
object references itself

activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:57:in `check_for_circular_references'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:45:in `encode'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:209:in `block in encode_json'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:209:in `each'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:209:in `map'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:209:in `encode_json'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:46:in `block in encode'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:60:in `check_for_circular_references'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:45:in `encode'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/json/encoding.rb:30:in `encode'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/renderers.rb:74:in `block in <module:Renderers>'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/renderers.rb:32:in `_handle_render_options'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/renderers.rb:47:in `render_to_body'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/compatibility.rb:55:in `render_to_body'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/abstract_controller/rendering.rb:101:in `render_to_string'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/abstract_controller/rendering.rb:92:in `render'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/rendering.rb:17:in `render'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/instrumentation.rb:40:in `block (2 levels) in render'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/core_ext/benchmark.rb:5:in `block in ms'
/home/throlkim/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p0/lib/ruby/1.9.1/benchmark.rb:309:in `realtime'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/core_ext/benchmark.rb:5:in `ms'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/instrumentation.rb:40:in `block in render'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/instrumentation.rb:78:in `cleanup_view_runtime'
activerecord (3.0.0) lib/active_record/railties/controller_runtime.rb:15:in `cleanup_view_runtime'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/instrumentation.rb:39:in `render'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/responder.rb:209:in `display'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/responder.rb:159:in `api_behavior'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/responder.rb:138:in `rescue in to_format'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/responder.rb:136:in `to_format'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/responder.rb:119:in `respond'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/responder.rb:112:in `call'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/mime_responds.rb:232:in `respond_with'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/implicit_render.rb:4:in `send_action'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/abstract_controller/base.rb:150:in `process_action'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/rendering.rb:11:in `process_action'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/abstract_controller/callbacks.rb:18:in `block in process_action'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/callbacks.rb:435:in `_run__29503673__process_action__515564314__callbacks'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/callbacks.rb:409:in `_run_process_action_callbacks'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/callbacks.rb:93:in `run_callbacks'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/abstract_controller/callbacks.rb:17:in `process_action'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/instrumentation.rb:30:in `block in process_action'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/notifications.rb:52:in `block in instrument'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/notifications/instrumenter.rb:21:in `instrument'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/notifications.rb:52:in `instrument'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/instrumentation.rb:29:in `process_action'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/rescue.rb:17:in `process_action'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/abstract_controller/base.rb:119:in `process'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/abstract_controller/rendering.rb:40:in `process'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal.rb:133:in `dispatch'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal/rack_delegation.rb:14:in `dispatch'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_controller/metal.rb:173:in `block in action'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/routing/route_set.rb:62:in `call'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/routing/route_set.rb:62:in `dispatch'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/routing/route_set.rb:27:in `call'
rack-mount (0.6.13) lib/rack/mount/route_set.rb:148:in `block in call'
rack-mount (0.6.13) lib/rack/mount/code_generation.rb:93:in `block in recognize'
rack-mount (0.6.13) lib/rack/mount/code_generation.rb:75:in `optimized_each'
rack-mount (0.6.13) lib/rack/mount/code_generation.rb:92:in `recognize'
rack-mount (0.6.13) lib/rack/mount/route_set.rb:139:in `call'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/routing/route_set.rb:492:in `call'
haml (3.0.21) lib/sass/plugin/rack.rb:41:in `call'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/best_standards_support.rb:17:in `call'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/head.rb:14:in `call'
rack (1.2.1) lib/rack/methodoverride.rb:24:in `call'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/params_parser.rb:21:in `call'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/flash.rb:182:in `call'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/session/abstract_store.rb:149:in `call'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/cookies.rb:287:in `call'
activerecord (3.0.0) lib/active_record/query_cache.rb:32:in `block in call'
activerecord (3.0.0) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/query_cache.rb:28:in `cache'
activerecord (3.0.0) lib/active_record/query_cache.rb:12:in `cache'
activerecord (3.0.0) lib/active_record/query_cache.rb:31:in `call'
activerecord (3.0.0) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:355:in `call'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/callbacks.rb:46:in `block in call'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/callbacks.rb:415:in `_run_call_callbacks'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/callbacks.rb:44:in `call'
rack (1.2.1) lib/rack/sendfile.rb:107:in `call'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/remote_ip.rb:48:in `call'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/show_exceptions.rb:46:in `call'
railties (3.0.0) lib/rails/rack/logger.rb:13:in `call'
rack (1.2.1) lib/rack/runtime.rb:17:in `call'
activesupport (3.0.0) lib/active_support/cache/strategy/local_cache.rb:72:in `call'
rack (1.2.1) lib/rack/lock.rb:11:in `block in call'
<internal:prelude>:10:in `synchronize'
rack (1.2.1) lib/rack/lock.rb:11:in `call'
actionpack (3.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/static.rb:30:in `call'
railties (3.0.0) lib/rails/application.rb:168:in `call'
railties (3.0.0) lib/rails/application.rb:77:in `method_missing'
railties (3.0.0) lib/rails/rack/log_tailer.rb:14:in `call'
rack (1.2.1) lib/rack/content_length.rb:13:in `call'
rack (1.2.1) lib/rack/chunked.rb:15:in `call'
rack (1.2.1) lib/rack/handler/mongrel.rb:67:in `process'
mongrel (1.2.0.pre2) lib/mongrel.rb:165:in `block in process_client'
mongrel (1.2.0.pre2) lib/mongrel.rb:164:in `each'
mongrel (1.2.0.pre2) lib/mongrel.rb:164:in `process_client'
mongrel (1.2.0.pre2) lib/mongrel.rb:291:in `block (2 levels) in run'
  • Rohit Arondekar

    Rohit Arondekar October 14th, 2010 @ 10:48 AM

    • State changed from “resolved” to “open”
    • Milestone cleared.

    Could one of you please write a patch with tests. Contributor guide can be found here — http://rails.lighthouseapp.com/projects/8994/sending-patches

    Also I apologize for not taking a look at this earlier.

  • Jeremy Kemper

    Jeremy Kemper October 15th, 2010 @ 11:01 PM

    • Milestone set to “3.0.2”
  • Ryan Bigg

    Ryan Bigg October 19th, 2010 @ 08:33 AM

    • Tag cleared.

    Automatic cleanup of spam.

  • Neeraj Singh

    Neeraj Singh November 15th, 2010 @ 09:06 PM

    • State changed from “open” to “needs-more-info”
    • Milestone changed from “3.0.2” to “3.x”

    @Will Prater: I am not able to reproduce it with rails edge. Can you show me your model, migration and the data to reproduce this problem.

    ree-1.8.7-2010.02 > Car.first.to_json
  Car Load (0.2ms)  SELECT "cars".* FROM "cars" LIMIT 1
 => "{\"car\":{\"name\":\"honda\",\"manufactured_at\":\"2010-11-15T21:05:00Z\",\"color\":null,\"id\":1}}"
  • Matt Todd

    Matt Todd November 18th, 2010 @ 08:03 PM

    I am only able to reproduce the issue with a ThinkingSphinx::Search object, not an actual array of results.

    One easy test is to try:

    results.to_a.to_json

    This was sufficient enough for me to indicate that it was an issue with the library and not with Rails.

    Please try this to make sure you're dealing with an array of results or with a lazy loaded object that doesn't handle to_json correctly.

  • Rohit Arondekar

    Rohit Arondekar January 26th, 2011 @ 10:03 AM

    • Assigned user cleared.

    Can we close this ticket or is still unresolved?

  • Alexey Nayden

    Alexey Nayden January 29th, 2011 @ 07:53 PM

    Current rails 3.0.3 code has the following implementation:

    if @seen.any? { |object| object.equal?(value) }
  raise CircularReferenceError, 'object references itself'
end

    So the ticket should be fine now, the problem with "==" has been solved

  • rails

    rails April 30th, 2011 @ 01:00 AM

    • State changed from “needs-more-info” to “open”

    This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not been commented on for at least three months.

    The resources of the Rails core team are limited, and so we are asking for your help. If you can still reproduce this error on the 3-0-stable branch or on master, please reply with all of the information you have about it and add "[state:open]" to your comment. This will reopen the ticket for review. Likewise, if you feel that this is a very important feature for Rails to include, please reply with your explanation so we can consider it.

    Thank you for all your contributions, and we hope you will understand this step to focus our efforts where they are most helpful.

  • rails

    rails April 30th, 2011 @ 01:00 AM

    • State changed from “open” to “stale”

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