FuelLabs/sway · error · anyhow::Error

failed to init repo at \"{}\": {}

Error message

failed to init repo at \"{}\": {}

What it means

To fetch a git dependency, forc first creates a repository on disk with git2::Repository::init at the per-repo cache path. If the filesystem refuses - permission denied, read-only mount, disk full, invalid path - the git2 error is wrapped with the target directory path.

Source

Thrown at forc-pkg/src/source/git/mod.rs:449

    // returning or panicking.
    let _cleanup_guard = scopeguard::guard(&repo_dir, |dir| {
        let _ = std::fs::remove_dir_all(dir);
    });

    let config = git2::Config::open_default().unwrap();

    // Init auth manager
    let mut auth_handler = auth::AuthHandler::default_with_config(config);

    // Setup remote callbacks
    let mut callback = git2::RemoteCallbacks::new();
    callback.credentials(move |url, username, allowed| {
        auth_handler.handle_callback(url, username, allowed)
    });

    // Initialise the repository.
    let repo = git2::Repository::init(&repo_dir)
        .map_err(|e| anyhow!("failed to init repo at \"{}\": {}", repo_dir.display(), e))?;

    // Fetch the necessary references.
    let (refspecs, tags) = git_ref_to_refspecs(&source.reference);

    // Fetch the refspecs.
    let mut fetch_opts = git2::FetchOptions::new();
    fetch_opts.remote_callbacks(callback);

    if tags {
        fetch_opts.download_tags(git2::AutotagOption::All);
    }
    let repo_url_string = source.repo.to_string();
    repo.remote_anonymous(&repo_url_string)?
        .fetch(&refspecs, Some(&mut fetch_opts), None)
        .with_context(|| {
            format!(
                "failed to fetch `{}`. Check your connection or run in `--offline` mode",
                &repo_url_string

View on GitHub (pinned to 47e5e902fa)

Solutions

1. Check write permission on the printed repo_dir and its parents; chmod/chown as needed
2. Free disk space or remount the filesystem writable
3. Unset or fix FORC_HOME so it points at a writable location
4. Remove the half-created repo_dir and retry so init starts clean

use std::{fs, path::Path};

fn cache_dir_writable(dir: &Path) -> bool {
    fs::create_dir_all(dir).is_ok()
        && fs::write(dir.join(".probe"), b"").is_ok()
        && fs::remove_file(dir.join(".probe")).is_ok()
}
// before building: assert cache_dir_writable(&forc_home.join("git"));

When it happens

Trigger: The user running forc lacks write permission under the forc home git directory; the directory is on a full or read-only filesystem; FORC_HOME points somewhere unwritable.

Common situations: CI containers with restricted HOME; Docker volumes mounted read-only; sandboxes; FORC_HOME misconfigured to a path requiring root.

Related errors

• failed to write lock file: {}
• Unable to fetch pkg {:?} from {:?} in offline mode
• Cannot get commit from {}
• invalid folder name
• Cannot find local repo at checkouts dir {}

AI-assisted analysis of FuelLabs/sway@47e5e902fa (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/186f3e21141761ec. Report an issue: GitHub.