GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

reading .dockerignore: %w

Error message

reading .dockerignore: %w

What it means

Fires in getDependencies when the .dockerignore file (or its parent path) cannot be read while computing docker artifact dependencies. Usually a permissions issue or an unreadable path; note a *missing* dockerignore is normally tolerated, so this signals an I/O failure rather than absence alone.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/docker/dependencies.go:138

}

func getDependencies(ctx context.Context, workspace string, dockerfilePath string, absDockerfilePath string, buildArgs map[string]*string, cfg Config) ([]string, error) {
	// If the Dockerfile doesn't exist, we can't compute the dependency.
	// But since we know the Dockerfile is a dependency, let's return a list
	// with only that file. It makes errors down the line more actionable
	// than returning an error now.
	if _, err := os.Stat(absDockerfilePath); os.IsNotExist(err) {
		return []string{dockerfilePath}, nil
	}

	fts, err := ReadCopyCmdsFromDockerfile(ctx, false, absDockerfilePath, workspace, buildArgs, cfg)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	excludes, err := readDockerignore(workspace, absDockerfilePath)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("reading .dockerignore: %w", err)
	}

	deps := make([]string, 0, len(fts))
	for _, ft := range fts {
		deps = append(deps, ft.From)
	}

	files, err := WalkWorkspace(workspace, excludes, deps)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("walking workspace: %w", err)
	}

	// Always add dockerfile even if it's .dockerignored. The daemon will need it anyways.
	if !filepath.IsAbs(dockerfilePath) {
		files[dockerfilePath] = true
	} else {
		files[absDockerfilePath] = true
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Check file permissions on the .dockerignore file and workspace directory
2. Remove or fix a corrupted .dockerignore (e.g. invalid path entries causing read errors)
3. Ensure the workspace is fully accessible to the skaffold process (container mounts, network filesystems)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at pkg/skaffold/docker/dependencies.go:138 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/137e045895627ac9. Report an issue: GitHub.