apache/flink · error · IOException

Mkdirs failed to create tar internal dir {targetDir}

Error message

Mkdirs failed to create tar internal dir {targetDir}

What it means

Thrown when a tar file entry's parent directory does not exist and mkdirs() on it fails. Tar archives sometimes omit directory entries for a file's parents; Flink creates them on demand, and this error means that on-demand parent creation failed (permissions, disk, conflicting file).

Source

Thrown at flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/util/CompressionUtils.java:197

            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()) {
            if (!outputFile.getParentFile().mkdirs()) {
                throw new IOException("Mkdirs failed to create tar internal dir " + targetDir);
            }
        }

        try (OutputStream o = Files.newOutputStream(Paths.get(outputFile.getCanonicalPath()))) {
            IOUtils.copyBytes(tis, o, false);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Convert a os-native filename to a path that works for the shell and avoids script injection
     * attacks.
     */
    private static String makeSecureShellPath(String filePath) {
        return filePath.replace("'", "'\\''");
    }

    public static void extractZipFileWithPermissions(String zipFilePath, String targetPath)
            throws IOException {

View on GitHub (pinned to 2f3c205e92)

Solutions

1. Inspect the reported targetDir and the entry's parent chain for an existing non-directory file and remove it
2. Grant write permission to the extracting user on the whole target subtree
3. Extract into a clean directory to avoid residue from earlier failed runs

Example fix

// before
CompressionUtils.extractTarFile(tar, "/shared/readonly/dir");

// after
File target = new File(System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir"), "flink-extract-" + UUID.randomUUID());
CompressionUtils.extractTarFile(tar, target.getAbsolutePath());

Path parent = Paths.get(targetDirPath).toAbsolutePath();
if (!Files.isWritable(parent)) throw new IOException("Target not writable: " + parent);

catch (IOException e) and rethrow with target dir, archive path, and user running the process for quick permission diagnosis.

When it happens

Trigger: A tar without explicit directory entries (so getParentFile().mkdirs() is needed) extracted into a location where the parent chain cannot be created: no write permission, a file already exists somewhere along the path, or disk exhaustion.

Common situations: Extracting into a directory owned by another user; a previous partial extraction left a file where a directory is now needed; container image with read-only layer at the target path.

Related errors

• Mkdirs failed to create {targetDir}
• Failed to create directory {outputFile}
• Create dir: {outputFile.getAbsolutePath()} failed!
• Interrupted when untarring file {inFilePath}
• Error untarring file {inFilePath}. Tar process exited with e

AI-assisted analysis of apache/flink@2f3c205e92 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7603399d4539421f. Report an issue: GitHub.