Billionmail/BillionMail · error

invalid attr:

Error message

invalid attr: 

What it means

ChattrRecursive accepts an attribute string of exactly two characters: a sign ('+' or '-') followed by one of i, a, d, s, c. Anything of the wrong length, wrong sign, or unsupported flag returns "invalid attr: <attr>" before any filesystem access.

Source

Thrown at core/internal/service/public/common.go:1567

			if err != nil {
				return err
			}
		}
	}

	return os.Chmod(path, mode)
}

// Change file or directory attributes
func Chattr(path string, attr string) error {
	return ChattrRecursive(path, attr)
}

// Change file or directory attributes (recursive)
func ChattrRecursive(path string, attr string) error {
	// Check if attr is valid
	if len(attr) != 2 || (attr[0] != '+' && attr[0] != '-') {
		return errors.New("invalid attr: " + attr)
	}

	if attr[1] != 'i' && attr[1] != 'a' && attr[1] != 'd' && attr[1] != 's' && attr[1] != 'c' {
		return errors.New("invalid attr: " + attr)
	}

	// File does not exist
	if !FileExists(path) {
		return errors.New("file not exists: " + path)
	}

	// Directory
	if IsDir(path) {
		ds, err := os.ReadDir(path)

		if err != nil {
			return err
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to fc36c76c05)

Solutions

1. Pass a two-character string: sign plus one of i/a/d/s/c (e.g. "+i", "-a")
2. Validate the attr with a whitelist before calling
3. Map unsupported chattr CLI flags to the supported set or drop them

Example fix

// before
public.ChattrRecursive(path, flag) // flag = "i" -> invalid attr
// after
sign := "+"
if remove { sign = "-" }
public.ChattrRecursive(path, sign+flag) // e.g. "+i"

func checkAttrFormat(attr string) error {
    if len(attr) != 2 || (attr[0] != '+' && attr[0] != '-') {
        return fmt.Errorf("attr must start with + or -: %q", attr)
    }
    return nil
}

func hasAttrSign(s string) bool {
    return len(s) == 2 && (s[0] == '+' || s[0] == '-')
}

if err := public.Chattr(path, attr); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "invalid attr") {
        log.Errorf("bad attr %q from caller; expected e.g. '+i'", attr)
        return nil
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Chattr/ChattrRecursive with attr values like "i" (no sign), "+x" (unsupported flag), "+ii" (wrong length), "++i" (wrong sign), or an empty string.

Common situations: Building the attr string dynamically and dropping the sign; copying chattr CLI syntax with flags this wrapper does not support (e.g. '+u', '+e'); i18n/config files containing a single-letter flag.

Understand the failure class

Background: "must be a positive integer", "cannot be empty", "invalid argument": how invalid-argument errors work across open-source libraries — this error's family across 33 libraries.

Related errors

• unable to determine domain for noreply email
• failed to create email sender: %w
• failed to send confirmation email: %w
• unsupported file type: %s
• required column 'email' not found

AI-assisted analysis of Billionmail/BillionMail@fc36c76c05 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2f202392fbee3566. Report an issue: GitHub.