abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus · error · SandboxError

results directory must be a real non-symlink directory: {roo

Error message

results directory must be a real non-symlink directory: {root}

What it means

After lstat succeeds, _real_results_root checks the mode: if it is a symlink (stat.S_ISLNK) or not a directory (not stat.S_ISDIR) the path is rejected. lstat is used intentionally so a symlink-to-a-directory is still treated as a symlink and refused — the harness must bind a real directory inode, not an indirectable link.

Source

Thrown at eval/workflow_bench/evolve.py:295

def _bounded_regular_text(path: Path, limit: int = MAX_EVIDENCE_FILE_BYTES) -> str:
    mode = path.lstat().st_mode
    if path.is_symlink() or not stat.S_ISREG(mode):
        raise SandboxError(f"evidence source must be a regular non-symlink file: {path}")
    with path.open("rb") as handle:
        if path.stat().st_size > limit:
            handle.seek(-limit, os.SEEK_END)
        return handle.read(limit).decode(errors="replace")


def _real_results_root(results_dir: Path) -> Path:
    root = results_dir.expanduser().absolute()
    try:
        metadata = root.lstat()
    except OSError as exc:
        raise SandboxError(f"results directory is unavailable: {root}: {exc}") from exc
    if stat.S_ISLNK(metadata.st_mode) or not stat.S_ISDIR(metadata.st_mode):
        raise SandboxError(f"results directory must be a real non-symlink directory: {root}")
    if root.resolve(strict=True) != root:
        raise SandboxError(f"results directory must not traverse symlinks: {root}")
    return root


def _results_artifact_path(root: Path, relative_value: str, *, transcript: bool) -> Path:
    relative = PurePosixPath(relative_value)
    expected_parts = 2 if transcript else 1
    if (
        relative.is_absolute()
        or len(relative.parts) != expected_parts
        or any(part in {"", ".", ".."} for part in relative.parts)
        or (transcript and relative.parts[0] != "transcripts")
    ):
        raise SandboxError(f"unsafe results artifact path: {relative_value!r}")
    current = root
    for part in relative.parts[:-1]:
        current /= part

View on GitHub (pinned to d540b00184)

Solutions

1. Check the inode type: `ls -ldH <results_dir>` (note the `-H` follows the argument symlink; you want to see a real dir with no arrow).
2. Pass the real directory, not a symlink to it.
3. If a file was created in its place, remove it and recreate the directory.

Example fix

# before: ~/results is a symlink
ln -s /mnt/nfs/results ~/results
proposer_evidence_entries(results_dir=Path("~/results").expanduser(), ...)

# after: bind the real directory
proposer_evidence_entries(results_dir=Path("/mnt/nfs/results"), ...)

import stat
from pathlib import Path

def is_real_results_dir(path: Path) -> bool:
    try:
        m = path.expanduser().absolute().lstat().st_mode
    except OSError:
        return False
    return stat.S_ISDIR(m) and not stat.S_ISLNK(m)

import stat
from pathlib import Path

def is_non_symlink_directory(path: Path) -> bool:
    m = path.lstat().st_mode
    return stat.S_ISDIR(m) and not stat.S_ISLNK(m)

When it happens

Trigger: results_dir is a regular file (e.g. a results.jsonl passed by mistake instead of its parent dir), a symlink to a directory, or a block/char device.

Common situations: User passes the results file instead of the dir; a convenience symlink (`ln -s /mnt/nfs/results ~/results`) used as the argument; a packaging artifact written over the dir.

Related errors

• results directory must not traverse symlinks: {root}
• evidence source must be a regular non-symlink file: {path}
• results directory is unavailable: {root}: {exc}
• results artifact parent is unavailable: {current}: {exc}
• results artifact parent must be a real directory: {current}

AI-assisted analysis of abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus@d540b00184 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/db2e2afeaa05fd75. Report an issue: GitHub.