apache/hadoop · error · IOException

Error untarring file " + inFile + ". Tar process exited with

Error message

Error untarring file " + inFile + ". Tar process exited with exit code " + exitcode + " from command " + untarCommand

What it means

unTarUsingTar builds a bash command ('bash','-c','tar -xf ... -)') and runs it via ShellCommandExecutor on non-Windows; a non-zero exit code throws IOException("Error untarring file <inFile>. Tar process exited with exit code <n> from command <cmd>"). Unlike the runCommand variant, this message includes the exact tar command, which usually reveals the cause. Common exit codes: 1/2 corrupt or truncated archive, 127 tar not found, 126 permission problem on tar.

Source

Thrown at hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FileUtil.java:1080

          .append(" | (");
    }
    untarCommand.append("cd '")
        .append(FileUtil.makeSecureShellPath(untarDir))
        .append("' && ")
        .append("tar -xf ");

    if (gzipped) {
      untarCommand.append(" -)");
    } else {
      untarCommand.append(source);
    }
    LOG.debug("executing [{}]", untarCommand);
    String[] shellCmd = { "bash", "-c", untarCommand.toString() };
    ShellCommandExecutor shexec = new ShellCommandExecutor(shellCmd);
    shexec.execute();
    int exitcode = shexec.getExitCode();
    if (exitcode != 0) {
      throw new IOException("Error untarring file " + inFile +
          ". Tar process exited with exit code " + exitcode
          + " from command " + untarCommand);
    }
  }

  static void unTarUsingJava(File inFile, File untarDir,
      boolean gzipped) throws IOException {
    InputStream inputStream = null;
    TarArchiveInputStream tis = null;
    try {
      if (gzipped) {
        inputStream =
            new GZIPInputStream(Files.newInputStream(inFile.toPath()));
      } else {
        inputStream = Files.newInputStream(inFile.toPath());
      }

      inputStream = new BufferedInputStream(inputStream);

View on GitHub (pinned to 2add963021)

Solutions

1. Run the printed command manually to see tar's own stderr — it names the exact failing entry or missing binary
2. Validate the archive (tar -tf / checksum) and re-download or regenerate it
3. Install/point to a full GNU tar, or catch this IOException and retry with the pure-Java path: FileUtil.unTarUsingJava(inFile, untarDir, gzipped) via a manual extraction routine
4. Confirm write permission on untarDir and disk space

Example fix

// before
FileUtil.unTar(inFile, untarDir);
// Error untarring file bundle.tgz. Tar process exited with exit code 2 from command ...

// after: fall back to the Java implementation when native tar fails
try {
  FileUtil.unTar(inFile, untarDir);
} catch (IOException e) {
  if (e.getMessage() != null && e.getMessage().contains("Tar process exited")) {
    try (InputStream in = Files.newInputStream(inFile.toPath())) {
      FileUtil.unTar(in, untarDir, inFile.getName().endsWith("gz"));
    }
  } else {
    throw e;
  }
}

try (InputStream probe = Files.newInputStream(inFile.toPath())) {
  byte[] m = new byte[2];
  if (probe.read(m) == 2 && (m[0] & 0xff) == 0x1f) {
    // gzip magic: unTar(File,...) infers gzipped from name only — rename or use stream API
  }
}

try {
  FileUtil.unTar(inFile, untarDir);
} catch (IOException e) {
  if (e.getMessage() != null && e.getMessage().contains("Tar process exited")) {
    // native tar failed; retry with the pure-Java extractor
    try (InputStream in = Files.newInputStream(inFile.toPath())) {
      FileUtil.unTar(in, untarDir, inFile.getName().endsWith("gz"));
    }
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: unTar(File inFile, File untarDir) or unTar(stream,...) on Linux with a truncated .tar/.tgz; tar binary absent from PATH (exit 127); archive containing entries the system tar cannot create (unsupported link types, path too long); untarDir unwritable.

Common situations: Downloaded tarballs truncated by network or proxy; minimal Docker images without tar; archives created with GNU extensions failing on BusyBox tar; running as a user without write permission on the extraction dir.

Related errors

• Error executing command. %s Process exited with exit code %d
• Mkdirs failed to create " + untarDir
• expanding " + entry.getName() + " would create entry outside
• Mkdirs failed to create tar internal dir " + outputDir
• expanding " + entry.getName() + " would create file outside

AI-assisted analysis of apache/hadoop@2add963021 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e3846a554ba9301c. Report an issue: GitHub.