## Background

I maintain a [library](https://github.com/stkent/bugshaker-android) whose core functionality involves sharing programmatically-captured screenshots to external email applications.

I use a `FileProvider` to accomplish this, which means my library&#39;s manifest contains [a `&lt;provider&gt;` tag](https://github.com/stkent/bugshaker-android/blob/df05e919882713c93a44af61f947fb7ac3e99fbc/bugshaker/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml):

&lt;!-- language: xml --&gt;

    &lt;provider
        android:name=&quot;android.support.v4.content.FileProvider&quot;
        android:authorities=&quot;${applicationId}.bugshaker.fileprovider&quot;
        android:exported=&quot;false&quot;
        android:grantUriPermissions=&quot;true&quot;&gt;
        &lt;meta-data
            android:name=&quot;android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS&quot;
            android:resource=&quot;@xml/filepaths&quot; /&gt;
    &lt;/provider&gt;

`filepaths.xml` is defined as follows:

&lt;!-- language: xml --&gt;

    &lt;paths&gt;
        &lt;files-path path=&quot;bug-reports/&quot; name=&quot;bug-reports&quot; /&gt;
    &lt;/paths&gt;

A consumer of my library has an application which itself uses a `FileProvider` to share files. My expectation was that it should be possible to allow both providers to share files if the consuming application used the following manifest `&lt;provider&gt;` tag:

&lt;!-- language: xml --&gt;

    &lt;provider
        android:authorities=&quot;${applicationId}.fileprovider;${applicationId}.bugshaker.fileprovider&quot;
        android:exported=&quot;false&quot;
        android:grantUriPermissions=&quot;true&quot;
        android:name=&quot;android.support.v4.content.FileProvider&quot;
        tools:replace=&quot;android:authorities&quot;&gt;
        &lt;meta-data
            android:name=&quot;android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS&quot;
            android:resource=&quot;@xml/file_paths&quot;
            tools:replace=&quot;android:resource&quot; /&gt;
    &lt;/provider&gt;

This manifest entry:

- specifies two `Provider` authorities, `${applicationId}.fileprovider` (for application file sharing) and `${applicationId}.bugshaker.fileprovider` (for library file sharing);
- references an updated `filepaths.xml`, which contains separate directory definitions for application-generated files and library-generated files:

&lt;!-- language: xml --&gt;

    &lt;paths&gt;
        &lt;external-path
            name=&quot;redacted&quot;
            path=&quot;&quot; /&gt;
        &lt;files-path
            name=&quot;bug-reports&quot;
            path=&quot;bug-reports/&quot; /&gt;
    &lt;/paths&gt;

After building the application, we have confirmed that the generated manifest has had the correct nodes replaced with these updated values.

However, when the application using this configuration is assembled (successfully) and run, we see a crash on launch:

&lt;!-- language: lang-none --&gt;

    E: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
       Process: com.stkent.bugshakertest, PID: 11636
       java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to get provider android.support.v4.content.FileProvider: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method &#39;android.content.res.XmlResourceParser android.content.pm.PackageItemInfo.loadXmlMetaData(android.content.pm.PackageManager, java.lang.String)&#39; on a null object reference
           at android.app.ActivityThread.installProvider(ActivityThread.java:5856)
           at android.app.ActivityThread.installContentProviders(ActivityThread.java:5445)
           at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:5384)
           at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap2(ActivityThread.java)
           at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1545)
           at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
           at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:154)
           at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6119)
           at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
           at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:886)
           at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:776)
        Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method &#39;android.content.res.XmlResourceParser android.content.pm.PackageItemInfo.loadXmlMetaData(android.content.pm.PackageManager, java.lang.String)&#39; on a null object reference
           at android.support.v4.content.FileProvider.parsePathStrategy(FileProvider.java:583)
           at android.support.v4.content.FileProvider.getPathStrategy(FileProvider.java:557)
           at android.support.v4.content.FileProvider.attachInfo(FileProvider.java:375)
           at android.app.ActivityThread.installProvider(ActivityThread.java:5853)
           at android.app.ActivityThread.installContentProviders(ActivityThread.java:5445)&#160;
           at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:5384)&#160;
           at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap2(ActivityThread.java)&#160;
           at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1545)&#160;
           at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)&#160;
           at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:154)&#160;
           at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6119)&#160;
           at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)&#160;
           at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:886)&#160;
           at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:776)&#160;

Using the debugger, I am able to see that the method `FileProvider.parsePathStrategy` invokes [`PackageManager.resolveContentProvider`](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/pm/PackageManager.html#resolveContentProvider(java.lang.String,%20int)) with the authority string `&quot;${applicationId}.fileprovider;${applicationId}.bugshaker.fileprovider&quot;`. `resolveContentProvider` then returns null, leading to this NPE.

If I manually call `resolveContentProvider` while paused at this instruction and pass either `&quot;${applicationId}.fileprovider&quot;` _or_ `&quot;${applicationId}.bugshaker.fileprovider&quot;`, `resolveContentProvider` instead returns a non-null `ProviderInfo` instance (which would seem to be the expected result).

This difference confuses me because the [`&lt;provider&gt;` element documentation](https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/provider-element.html) states that multiple authorities are supported:

&gt; A list of one or more URI authorities that identify data offered by the content provider. Multiple authorities are listed by separating their names with a semicolon. To avoid conflicts, authority names should use a Java-style naming convention (such as com.example.provider.cartoonprovider). Typically, it&#39;s the name of the ContentProvider subclass that implements the provider
&gt; 
&gt; There is no default. At least one authority must be specified.

## Questions

- Is it possible to have a single application expose a `FileProvider` with multiple authorities and file paths?
    - If so, what do I need to change to make that work?
    - If not, are there other ways to configure file sharing within my library that avoid conflicts such as this one?


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Possible to use multiple authorities with FileProvider?