GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

glob: %w

Error message

glob: %w

What it means

ExpandPathsGlob expands each pattern in its input with filepath.Glob; this error wraps a non-nil error returned by filepath.Glob itself. Glob only errors on malformed patterns (e.g. unbalanced [ or bad character-class syntax), not on zero matches — no matches produce a warning and an empty result instead. It propagates from manifest dependency resolution and test dependency discovery.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/util/util.go:95

// Returns a list of unique files that match the glob patterns passed in.
func ExpandPathsGlob(workingDir string, paths []string) ([]string, error) {
	var set orderedFileSet

	for _, p := range paths {
		path := p
		if !filepath.IsAbs(path) {
			path = filepath.Join(workingDir, path)
		}

		if _, err := os.Stat(path); err == nil {
			// This is a file reference, so just add it
			set.Add(path)
			continue
		}

		files, err := filepath.Glob(path)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("glob: %w", err)
		}
		if len(files) == 0 {
			log.Entry(context.TODO()).Warnf("%s did not match any file", p)
		}

		for _, f := range files {
			if err := walk.From(f).WhenIsFile().Do(func(path string, _ walk.Dirent) error {
				set.Add(path)
				return nil
			}); err != nil {
				return nil, fmt.Errorf("filepath walk: %w", err)
			}
		}
	}

	return set.Files(), nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Fix the malformed glob pattern in skaffold.yaml (check for unbalanced `[`/`]` or invalid character ranges).
2. Escape literal brackets that are part of a filename (e.g. `foo\[bar\]`).
3. Print/echo the expanded config (`skaffold diagnose`) to see the actual pattern being passed.
4. If the pattern is template-generated, validate the rendered pattern with filepath.Glob in isolation before wiring it into config.

Example fix

// before (skaffold.yaml)
test:
  - image: app
    structureTests: ["tests/st[" ]   # malformed pattern
// after
test:
  - image: app
    structureTests: ["tests/st*.json"]

for _, p := range paths {
    if strings.ContainsAny(p, "[") && !strings.HasSuffix(p, "]") {
        return fmt.Errorf("malformed glob pattern %q: unbalanced bracket", p)
    }
    if _, err := filepath.Glob(p); err != nil {
        return fmt.Errorf("invalid pattern %q: %w", p, err)
    }
}

deps, err := util.ExpandPathsGlob(fs, paths)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "glob:") {
        return fmt.Errorf("check skaffold.yaml glob patterns: %w", err)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a syntactically invalid glob pattern in the paths list — e.g. `foo[bar` (unclosed bracket), `[]]` misuse, or an otherwise malformed pattern — via kustomize/kubectl manifest configs, test configuration paths, or remote/local manifest resolution.

Common situations: Users hand-editing skaffold.yaml and typos a glob bracket; config templating (envsubst/Helm) injecting an empty or broken pattern; copying Windows-style patterns with stray characters.

Related errors

• invalid glob pattern: %w
• failed to evaluate pod name pattern %q due to error %w
• failed to evaluate container name pattern %q due to error %w
• pattern error for %q: %w
• bucket name is empty

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/bf1124cc6390e243. Report an issue: GitHub.