GoogleContainerTools/jib · error · MojoExecutionException

<container><creationTime> should be an ISO 8601 date-time (s

Error message

<container><creationTime> should be an ISO 8601 date-time (see DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME) or a special keyword ("EPOCH", "USE_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP"): <invalidCreationTime>

What it means

Jib validates <container><creationTime>, which sets the image creation timestamp. It must be an ISO 8601 date-time (DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME) or one of the special keywords "EPOCH" or "USE_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP". Invalid values raise InvalidCreationTimeException, which execute() wraps into a MojoExecutionException echoing the value.

Source

Thrown at jib-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/tools/jib/maven/BuildImageMojo.java:152

      throw new MojoExecutionException(
          "<from><platforms> contains a platform configuration that is missing required values or has invalid values: "
              + ex.getMessage()
              + ": "
              + ex.getInvalidPlatform(),
          ex);
    } catch (InvalidContainerVolumeException ex) {
      throw new MojoExecutionException(
          "<container><volumes> is not an absolute Unix-style path: " + ex.getInvalidVolume(), ex);

    } catch (InvalidFilesModificationTimeException ex) {
      throw new MojoExecutionException(
          "<container><filesModificationTime> should be an ISO 8601 date-time (see "
              + "DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME) or special keyword \"EPOCH_PLUS_SECOND\": "
              + ex.getInvalidFilesModificationTime(),
          ex);

    } catch (InvalidCreationTimeException ex) {
      throw new MojoExecutionException(
          "<container><creationTime> should be an ISO 8601 date-time (see "
              + "DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME) or a special keyword (\"EPOCH\", "
              + "\"USE_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP\"): "
              + ex.getInvalidCreationTime(),
          ex);

    } catch (JibPluginExtensionException ex) {
      String extensionName = ex.getExtensionClass().getName();
      throw new MojoExecutionException(
          "error running extension '" + extensionName + "': " + ex.getMessage(), ex);

    } catch (IncompatibleBaseImageJavaVersionException ex) {
      throw new MojoExecutionException(
          HelpfulSuggestions.forIncompatibleBaseImageJavaVersionForMaven(
              ex.getBaseImageMajorJavaVersion(), ex.getProjectMajorJavaVersion()),
          ex);

    } catch (InvalidImageReferenceException ex) {

View on GitHub (pinned to fb949e2676)

Solutions

  1. Use a full ISO 8601 timestamp, e.g. 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z.
  2. Use keyword EPOCH for reproducible builds or USE_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP for build time.
  3. Remove <creationTime> to use the default (EPOCH).

Example fix

// before
<creationTime>now</creationTime>
// after
<creationTime>USE_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP</creationTime>
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

Set<String> keywords = Set.of("EPOCH", "USE_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP");
String t = System.getProperty("jib.container.creationTime", pomCreationTime);
if (t != null && !keywords.contains(t)) {
  try { java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME.parse(t); }
  catch (Exception e) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("creationTime must be ISO 8601 or EPOCH/USE_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP: " + t); }
}

Try / catch

catch (MojoExecutionException e) { if (e.getMessage().contains("creationTime")) { /* use ISO 8601 or a valid keyword */ } }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Setting <creationTime> to values like '2024-01-01', 'now', epoch milliseconds, or any string not parseable as ISO 8601 date-time and not one of the two keywords, via pom.xml or -Djib.container.creationTime.

Common situations: Reproducible-build setups using a plain date; scripts injecting 'now' expecting it to be a keyword; confusion with the filesModificationTime keyword set (EPOCH_PLUS_SECOND is not valid here).

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/jib@fb949e2676 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/01bdddf5713289cd. Report an issue: GitHub.