Billionmail/BillionMail · error

user not exists:

Error message

user not exists: 

What it means

Chown resolves the username via GetUidAndGid (os/user Lookup). If lookup fails or resolves to uid==0 or gid==0, it returns "user not exists: <username>". The zero-check also (perhaps unintentionally) rejects root, since root has UID/GID 0.

Source

Thrown at core/internal/service/public/common.go:1482

	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	gid := gconv.Int(grp.Gid)

	if gid < 1 {
		return errors.New("group not exists: " + groupName)
	}

	return os.Chown(path, -1, gid)
}

// Change owner of a file or directory (recursive)
func Chown(path, username string) error {
	uid, gid := GetUidAndGid(username)

	if uid == 0 || gid == 0 {
		return errors.New("user not exists: " + username)
	}

	return ChownWithUidAndGidRecursive(path, uid, gid)
}

// Change owner of a file or directory with UID and GID (recursive)
func ChownWithUidAndGidRecursive(path string, uid, gid int) error {
	// 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. Create the user on the system (useradd) or fix the username in config
2. If root is intended, call ChownWithUidAndGidRecursive(path, 0, 0) directly
3. Check NSS/LDAP configuration if the user exists but lookups fail inside the container

Example fix

// before
public.Chown(dir, "root") // rejected: uid/gid are 0
// after
public.ChownWithUidAndGidRecursive(dir, 0, 0) // explicit chown to root

func userResolvable(name string) bool {
    uid, gid := public.GetUidAndGid(name)
    return uid != 0 || gid != 0
}

func isValidUser(name string) bool {
    _, err := user.Lookup(name)
    return err == nil && name != "root"
}

if err := public.Chown(path, username); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "user not exists") {
        return fmt.Errorf("system user %q missing on this host; run provisioning", username)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Chown(path, username) where the username does not exist on the host, the user DB (LDAP/NSS) is unreachable, or the username is "root" (uid/gid 0 is treated as not-found).

Common situations: Config references a service user (e.g. www, vmail) that was never created in the container; user exists only in the host but not inside the Docker image; root ownership intended but blocked by the zero check.

Related errors

• file not exists:
• unable to determine domain for noreply email
• failed to create email sender: %w
• failed to send confirmation email: %w
• No log files found

AI-assisted analysis of Billionmail/BillionMail@fc36c76c05 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/26692f4848bc3608. Report an issue: GitHub.