GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

starting command %v: %w

Error message

starting command %v: %w

What it means

RunCmdOut starts an external command with cmd.Start(). This error means the process could not even be spawned — before any output is captured — e.g. because the executable does not exist or lacks execute permission. The command itself and the OS error are wrapped for diagnosis.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/util/cmd.go:103

	return DefaultExecCommand.RunCmdOutOnce(ctx, cmd)
}

// Commander is the exec.Cmd implementation of the Command interface
type Commander struct {
	store *SyncStore[[]byte]
}

// RunCmdOut runs an exec.Command and returns the stdout and error.
func (*Commander) RunCmdOut(ctx context.Context, cmd *exec.Cmd) ([]byte, error) {
	log.Entry(ctx).Debugf("Running command: %s", cmd.Args)

	stdout := bytes.Buffer{}
	cmd.Stdout = &stdout
	stderr := bytes.Buffer{}
	cmd.Stderr = &stderr

	if err := cmd.Start(); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("starting command %v: %w", cmd, err)
	}

	if err := cmd.Wait(); err != nil {
		return stdout.Bytes(), &cmdError{
			args:   cmd.Args,
			stdout: stdout.Bytes(),
			stderr: stderr.Bytes(),
			cause:  err,
		}
	}

	if stderr.Len() > 0 {
		log.Entry(ctx).Debugf("Command output: [%s], stderr: %s", stdout.String(), stderr.String())
	} else {
		log.Entry(ctx).Debugf("Command output: [%s]", stdout.String())
	}

	return stdout.Bytes(), nil

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Install the missing binary or correct the command name/path passed to RunCmdOut.
2. Check PATH in the execution environment (container, CI) vs your shell: echo $PATH.
3. chmod +x the binary if it lacks the execute bit.
4. Verify with 'which <cmd>' in the same environment where skaffold runs.

Example fix

// before: assuming tool exists
out, err := util.RunCmdOut(ctx, nil, "kustomize", "build", dir)
// after: resolve or check first
if _, err := exec.LookPath("kustomize"); err != nil {
    return nil, fmt.Errorf("kustomize not found in PATH; install it or set KUSTOMIZE_PATH")
}
out, err := util.RunCmdOut(ctx, nil, "kustomize", "build", dir)

if _, err := exec.LookPath(cmdName); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("required tool %q not found in PATH: %w", cmdName, err)
}

func isExecNotFound(err error) bool {
    var ee *exec.Error
    return errors.As(err, &ee) && errors.Is(ee, exec.ErrNotFound)
}

out, err := util.RunCmdOut(ctx, nil, cmd, args...)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "executable file not found") {
        return fmt.Errorf("%s is not installed; see docs for install steps", cmd)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: cmd.Start() returns an error: binary not found in PATH (exec: "foo": executable file not found in $PATH), no execute bit, ENOEXEC on a bad shebang, or resource limits (fork failures).

Common situations: Required tool (docker, kubectl, kustomize, helm) not installed; tool installed under a different name/path; PATH differs between shell and the process invoking skaffold; running in a minimal container image without the binary.

Related errors

• running post-renderer: %w
• starting cmd: %w
• could not start the command: %w
• `apply` requires at least one manifest argument
• `exec` requires exactly one action to execute

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7b6490286b46f699. Report an issue: GitHub.