abiosoft/colima · warning

error reading pid file: %w

Error message

error reading pid file: %w

What it means

Returned by status (cmd/daemon/daemon.go:121) when the pid file exists (os.Stat succeeded) but os.ReadFile on it fails. The %w carries the read error.

Source

Thrown at cmd/daemon/daemon.go:121

		case <-ctx.Done():
			return ctx.Err()
		default:
			time.Sleep(time.Second * 1)
		}
	}

}

func status() error {
	info := Info()
	if _, err := os.Stat(info.PidFile); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("pid file not found: %w", err)
	}

	// check if process is actually running
	p, err := os.ReadFile(info.PidFile)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("error reading pid file: %w", err)
	}
	pid, _ := strconv.Atoi(string(p))
	if pid == 0 {
		return fmt.Errorf("invalid pid: %v", string(p))
	}

	process, err := os.FindProcess(pid)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("process not found: %v", err)
	}

	if err := process.Signal(syscall.Signal(0)); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("process signal(0) returned error: %w", err)
	}

	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to c3a5f9184d)

Solutions

1. Fix ownership of the daemon directory and pid file: `sudo chown -R $(id -un) <daemon-dir>`
2. If a race is likely, simply retry the status/stop command
3. If no daemon is actually running (`ps aux | grep -i colima | grep daemon`), delete the unreadable pid file so status cleanly reports not-running

// Probe pid file readability before daemon flows
if p, err := os.ReadFile(info.PidFile); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("pid file unreadable; fix ownership of the daemon dir or remove the stale pid file")
} else if pid, _ := strconv.Atoi(string(p)); pid == 0 {
    return fmt.Errorf("stale pid file")
}

if err := daemonStatus(); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "error reading pid file") {
        // permission or race: chown the daemon dir, or simply retry once
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Permission denied reading the pid file (created by a root-run daemon, restrictive mode/ACL), or a race where the file is removed between stat and read (concurrent daemon stop/restart).

Common situations: Daemon previously started with sudo leaving a root-owned daemon.pid; two colima invocations racing to stop/restart the daemon.

Related errors

• cannot make dir: %w
• error reading ssh config: %w
• error modifying %s: %w
• error preparing to copy VM: %w
• config missing for colima profile '%s': %w

AI-assisted analysis of abiosoft/colima@c3a5f9184d (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0e3af1cbdb55bbfa. Report an issue: GitHub.