abiosoft/colima · error

error marshalling Lima network config file: %w

Error message

error marshalling Lima network config file: %w

What it means

Error returned when yaml.Marshal fails to serialize defaultLimaNetworkConfig (the Lima user-v2 network template, including the gateway address) to YAML. For a plain struct of strings this is nearly unreachable; it would require a field value that the YAML encoder rejects.

Source

Thrown at environment/vm/lima/network.go:52

	gatewayAddress := conf.Network.GatewayAddress
	if gatewayAddress != nil {
		defaultLimaNetworkConfig.Networks.UserV2.Gateway = gatewayAddress
	}

	// if there are no running instances, clear network directory
	if instances, err := limautil.RunningInstances(); err == nil && len(instances) == 0 {
		if err := os.RemoveAll(limautil.NetworkAssetsDirectory()); err != nil {
			logrus.Warnln(fmt.Errorf("could not clear network assets directory: %w", err))
		}
	}

	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(networkFile), 0755); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("error creating Lima config directory: %w", err)
	}

	networkFileMarshalled, err := yaml.Marshal(&defaultLimaNetworkConfig)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("error marshalling Lima network config file: %w", err)
	}

	if err := os.WriteFile(networkFile, networkFileMarshalled, 0755); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("error writing Lima network config file: %w", err)
	}
	return nil
}

func (l *limaVM) replicateHostAddresses(conf config.Config) error {
	if !conf.Network.Address && conf.Network.HostAddresses {
		for _, ip := range util.HostIPAddresses() {
			if err := l.RunQuiet("sudo", "ip", "address", "add", ip.String()+"/24", "dev", "lo"); err != nil {
				return err
			}
		}
	}
	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to c3a5f9184d)

Solutions

1. Treat as a colima bug: upgrade to the latest release
2. If reproducible, report with 'colima version' and the full startup log
3. Workaround: start without network customization (no --network flags) if the issue involves custom network settings

Structural marshal failure: catch, log the full struct for the bug report, and retry once without custom network fields (defaults) so startup can proceed while the defect is reported upstream.

When it happens

Trigger: Marshalling the network config struct with an unserializable field value — practically only via an internal type change or corrupted construction; there is no user-facing knob that feeds raw unserializable data into this struct.

Common situations: Almost never seen in the field; if reported, it correlates with a colima build bug or a patched fork where a network field type no longer marshals.

Related errors

• error encoding YAML: %w
• error provisioning %s: %w
• error running %s provision script(s)
• no available port found in range %d-%d
• port %d is already in use

AI-assisted analysis of abiosoft/colima@c3a5f9184d (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/af89d07e7210d898. Report an issue: GitHub.