GoogleContainerTools/jib · error · MojoExecutionException

<exception message (IOException | CacheDirectoryCreationExce

Error message

<exception message (IOException | CacheDirectoryCreationException | MainClassInferenceException | InvalidGlobalConfigException)>

What it means

Catch-all in BuildTarMojo.execute for IOException, CacheDirectoryCreationException, MainClassInferenceException, and InvalidGlobalConfigException: the original exception message is re-wrapped in a MojoExecutionException. The real cause varies — filesystem I/O failures, inability to create Jib's cache directory, failure to infer a main class from the project, or a corrupt/invalid ~/.jib global config file.

Source

Thrown at jib-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/tools/jib/maven/BuildTarMojo.java:156

      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) {
      throw new MojoExecutionException(
          HelpfulSuggestions.forInvalidImageReference(ex.getInvalidReference()), ex);

    } catch (IOException
        | CacheDirectoryCreationException
        | MainClassInferenceException
        | InvalidGlobalConfigException ex) {
      throw new MojoExecutionException(ex.getMessage(), ex);

    } catch (BuildStepsExecutionException ex) {
      throw new MojoExecutionException(ex.getMessage(), ex.getCause());

    } catch (ExtraDirectoryNotFoundException ex) {
      throw new MojoExecutionException(
          "<extraDirectories><paths> contain \"from\" directory that doesn't exist locally: "
              + ex.getPath(),
          ex);
    } finally {
      tempDirectoryProvider.close();
      MojoCommon.finishUpdateChecker(projectProperties, updateCheckFuture);
      projectProperties.waitForLoggingThread();
      getLog().info("");
    }
  }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to fb949e2676)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped message and 'Caused by' chain in Maven output to identify which of the four exceptions occurred.
2. If MainClassInferenceException: set <container><mainClass> explicitly to your main class FQN.
3. If cache creation fails: check permissions/disk space for the cache directory (default under build dir or ~/.cache), or set <cache> / jib.cacheDirectory explicitly.
4. If InvalidGlobalConfigException: fix or delete ~/.jib/config.json and rerun.
5. If plain IOException: inspect the caused-by for the underlying file path and fix permissions or disk space.

Example fix

// before (no mainClass in non-boot project)
<container></container>
// after
<container><mainClass>com.example.Main</mainClass></container>

// In Maven: always inspect the cause chain
mvn jib:buildTar -e
// In automation: retry only IOException-class failures once; treat MainClassInference/
// InvalidGlobalConfig/cache-permission failures as fatal configuration problems.

When it happens

Trigger: Running a jib goal when the local cache directory cannot be created (permissions/disk), when a jar can't be read/written, when no class with a main method exists and none is configured (<mainClass> missing in a non-boot project), or when the Jib global config JSON is invalid.

Common situations: Non-Spring-Boot jar projects without <container><mainClass>; read-only or full disks; ~/.jib/config.json hand-edited into invalid JSON; antivirus/permission issues locking cache directories.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to write file", "Could not save figure", "Error saving remote file" — file write failed: causes and fixes across languages and libraries — this error's family across 38 libraries.

Related errors

• <exception message (IOException | CacheDirectoryCreationExce
• <container><appRoot> is not an absolute Unix-style path: ${e
• invalid value for <containerizingMode>: ${ex.getInvalidConta
• <container><appRoot> is not an absolute Unix-style path: <in
• invalid value for <containerizingMode>: <invalidContainerizi

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/jib@fb949e2676 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/31bab528f8c8949b. Report an issue: GitHub.