apache/beam · error · RuntimeError

The file "%s" cannot be found. Its location was specified by

Error message

The file "%s" cannot be found. Its location was specified by the --sdk_location command-line option.

What it means

When --sdk_location points to an explicit (non-default, non-empty) local path that does not exist, create_job_resources raises this RuntimeError naming the missing file. Remote locations are handled earlier; this branch is for explicit local tarball paths.

Source

Thrown at sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/portability/stager.py:373

            sdk_path = setup_options.sdk_location

          if os.path.isfile(sdk_path):
            _LOGGER.info('Copying Beam SDK "%s" to staging location.', sdk_path)
            resources.append(
                Stager._create_file_stage_to_artifact(
                    sdk_path,
                    Stager._desired_sdk_filename_in_staging_location(
                        setup_options.sdk_location)))
          else:
            if setup_options.sdk_location == 'default':
              raise RuntimeError(
                  'Cannot find default Beam SDK tar file "%s"' % sdk_path)
            elif not setup_options.sdk_location:
              _LOGGER.info(
                  'Beam SDK will not be staged since --sdk_location '
                  'is empty.')
            else:
              raise RuntimeError(
                  'The file "%s" cannot be found. Its location was specified '
                  'by the --sdk_location command-line option.' % sdk_path)
    # The following artifacts are not processed by python sdk container boot
    # sequence in a setup mode and hence should not be skipped even if a
    # prebuilt sdk container image is used.

    # TODO(heejong): remove jar_packages experimental flag when cross-language
    #   dependency management is implemented for all runners.
    # Handle jar packages that should be staged for Java SDK Harness.
    jar_packages = options.view_as(DebugOptions).lookup_experiment(
        'jar_packages')
    if jar_packages is not None:
      resources.extend(
          Stager._create_jar_packages(
              jar_packages.split(','), temp_dir=temp_dir))

    # Pickle the main session if requested.
    # We will create the pickled main session locally and then copy it to the

View on GitHub (pinned to 12126d8942)

Solutions

1. Correct --sdk_location to an existing local apache_beam-*.tar.gz path
2. Rebuild the tarball (python setup.py sdist) if it was deleted
3. Use --sdk_location='default' or a https URL to a released SDK tarball
4. Verify with `ls -l` that the file exists on the driver host

Example fix

// before
--sdk_location=/tmp/old/apache_beam-2.59.0.tar.gz
// after
--sdk_location=/tmp/apache_beam-2.60.0.tar.gz

sdk = '/tmp/apache_beam-2.60.0.tar.gz'
if not os.path.exists(sdk):
    raise SystemExit(f'--sdk_location target missing: {sdk}')

def sdk_location_exists(p): return p in ('default', '') or os.path.exists(p)

try:
    stager.create_and_stage_job_resources(setup_options)
except RuntimeError as e:
    if 'cannot be found' in str(e) and '--sdk_location' in str(e):
        sys.exit(f'Check --sdk_location path: {e}')
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: create_job_resources with sdk_location set to a local path where os.path.exists(sdk_path) is False.

Common situations: Pointing --sdk_location at a previously built tarball that was deleted; wrong absolute path; tarball built on another machine; using a relative path from a different working directory.

Understand the failure class

Background: "File not found" and ENOENT errors: why libraries can't find a file that should exist — this error's family across 50 libraries.

Related errors

• The file %s cannot be found. It was specified in the --setup
• The file %s cannot be found. It was specified in the --exper
• The --setup_file option expects the full path to a file name
• The --sdk_location option was used with an unsupported type
• The --experiment='jar_packages=' option expects a full path

AI-assisted analysis of apache/beam@12126d8942 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/81b07343243e5b7a. Report an issue: GitHub.