666ghj/MiroFish · error · StarHistoryError

{label} exceeded the size limit

Error message

{label} exceeded the size limit

What it means

_read_limited reads limit+1 bytes up front; if the payload exceeds the cap (MAX_STATE_BYTES = 5,000,000 for history state), it raises '{label} exceeded the size limit'. This bounds memory use and rejects absurd state files before JSON parsing.

Source

Thrown at scripts/star_history.py:506

            raise StarHistoryError("output file cannot be a symbolic link")
    try:
        resolved_parent = target.parent.resolve(strict=False)
        resolved_parent.relative_to(root)
    except (OSError, ValueError) as exc:
        raise StarHistoryError("output path escaped the workspace") from exc
    return resolved_parent / target.name


def _read_limited(path: Path, limit: int, label: str) -> bytes:
    try:
        with path.open("rb") as handle:
            payload = handle.read(limit + 1)
    except FileNotFoundError as exc:
        raise StarHistoryError(f"{label} is missing") from exc
    except OSError as exc:
        raise StarHistoryError(f"could not read {label}") from exc
    if len(payload) > limit:
        raise StarHistoryError(f"{label} exceeded the size limit")
    return payload


def load_star_count_file(path: Path) -> int:
    """Read a tiny, symlink-safe decimal count produced by the fetch-only step."""

    flags = os.O_RDONLY
    if hasattr(os, "O_NOFOLLOW"):
        flags |= os.O_NOFOLLOW
    try:
        descriptor = os.open(path, flags)
    except OSError as exc:
        raise StarHistoryError("Star count file is missing or unsafe") from exc
    try:
        metadata = os.fstat(descriptor)
        if not stat.S_ISREG(metadata.st_mode):
            raise StarHistoryError("Star count file is not a regular file")
        payload = os.read(descriptor, MAX_COUNT_FILE_BYTES + 1)

View on GitHub (pinned to b5b53acc57)

Solutions

  1. Check the size: stat -c %s .github/star-history/history.json
  2. If legitimate growth, the data must be trimmed per the tool's model (regenerate state via backfill, or prune per the project's state format) — do not blindly raise MAX_STATE_BYTES unless you own the script
  3. Diff against git history to detect accidental duplication/appending
  4. Regenerate the state from the fetch/backfill step

Example fix

# inspect what inflated the file
python -c "import json;d=json.load(open('.github/star-history/history.json'));print(len(d['snapshots']),len(d['reconstruction']['points']))"
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

MAX = 5_000_000
size = (ws / '.github/star-history/history.json').stat().st_size
if size > MAX: raise RuntimeError(f'state is {size} bytes (cap {MAX})')

Try / catch

except StarHistoryError as e:
    if str(e) == "history state exceeded the size limit':
        audit_and_regenerate(ws)  # detect duplication vs real growth
    raise

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: history.json grows past 5 MB — many daily reconstruction points and snapshots accumulated over years, or the file was corrupted/appended with junk. Reading limit+1 bytes guarantees detection even when the file is exactly one byte over.

Common situations: Long-lived repositories with tens of thousands of stargazers and years of snapshots, accidentally committing a concatenated/merged state file, or hand-edits that duplicated content.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of 666ghj/MiroFish@b5b53acc57 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6f5289d596465422. Report an issue: GitHub.