apache/flink · error · IOException

Failed to create directory {outputFile}

Error message

Failed to create directory {outputFile}

What it means

Thrown while unpacking a tar entry that is a directory: File.mkdirs() returned false and the path is not an existing directory. The archive was validated (no traversal) but the filesystem refused to create the directory entry.

Source

Thrown at flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/util/CompressionUtils.java:177

            TarArchiveEntry entry;
            while ((entry = tai.getNextTarEntry()) != null) {
                unpackEntry(tai, entry, targetDir);
            }
        }
    }

    private static void unpackEntry(
            TarArchiveInputStream tis, TarArchiveEntry entry, File targetDir) throws IOException {
        String targetDirPath = targetDir.getCanonicalPath() + File.separator;
        File outputFile = new File(targetDir, entry.getName());
        if (!outputFile.getCanonicalPath().startsWith(targetDirPath)) {
            throw new IOException(
                    "expanding " + entry.getName() + " would create entry outside of " + targetDir);
        }

        if (entry.isDirectory()) {
            if (!outputFile.mkdirs() && !outputFile.isDirectory()) {
                throw new IOException("Failed to create directory " + outputFile);
            }

            for (TarArchiveEntry e : entry.getDirectoryEntries()) {
                unpackEntry(tis, e, outputFile);
            }

            return;
        }

        if (entry.isSymbolicLink()) {
            // create symbolic link relative to tar parent dir
            Files.createSymbolicLink(
                    Paths.get(new File(targetDir, entry.getName()).getCanonicalPath()),
                    Paths.get(entry.getLinkName()));
            return;
        }

        if (!outputFile.getParentFile().exists()) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 2f3c205e92)

Solutions

1. Check what already exists at the failing path: a stale regular file where a directory is expected must be removed
2. Extract to a fresh, empty target directory to avoid clashes with previous runs
3. On Windows, verify the entry name is legal (no ':' , not a reserved device name); consider extracting on a Unix-like filesystem
4. Confirm write permissions and path-length limits of the target filesystem

Example fix

// before
CompressionUtils.extractTarFile(tarPath, reusedDirtyDir);

// after
File target = new File(freshDir);
org.apache.flink.util.FileUtils.deleteDirectoryQuietly(target); // or use a new dir per run
target.mkdirs();
CompressionUtils.extractTarFile(tarPath, target.getAbsolutePath());

File target = new File(targetDirPath);
if (!target.exists() && !target.mkdirs()) throw new IOException("Cannot prepare " + target);
if (!target.canWrite()) throw new IOException("No write permission on " + target);

catch (IOException e) around extraction; include the failing entry name (from the message) plus target dir in the rethrown context.

When it happens

Trigger: A tar directory entry whose name cannot be created on the target filesystem: path too long, permission denied in the parent, a regular file already exists at that path, or an invalid name for the platform (e.g. reserved Windows names like CON, or entries containing ':').

Common situations: Extracting Linux-created archives on Windows hitting reserved characters; leftover file (not directory) at the entry path from a previous extraction; read-only or full target volume; deep nesting exceeding filesystem path limits.

Related errors

• Mkdirs failed to create {targetDir}
• Mkdirs failed to create tar internal dir {targetDir}
• Interrupted when untarring file {inFilePath}
• Error untarring file {inFilePath}. Tar process exited with e
• expanding {entry.getName()} would create entry outside of {t

AI-assisted analysis of apache/flink@2f3c205e92 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9e7f7073a9a741cb. Report an issue: GitHub.