apache/kafka · error · SystemError

Failure in executing following command:-

Error message

Failure in executing following command:- 

What it means

Raised by docker/common.execute() when subprocess.run(command) returns a non-zero exit code. execute() is the shared wrapper used by build_docker_image_runner, docker_release, and related scripts to run shell commands (docker build, docker buildx create/rm, etc.). The message echoes the joined command so the failing invocation is identifiable, though the original stderr is lost.

Source

Thrown at docker/common.py:25

# (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
# the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
#    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.

import subprocess
import tempfile
import os
import shutil

def execute(command):
    if subprocess.run(command).returncode != 0:
        raise SystemError("Failure in executing following command:- ", " ".join(command))

def get_input(message):
    value = input(message)
    if value == "":
        raise ValueError("This field cannot be empty")
    return value

def build_docker_image_runner(command, image_type, kafka_archive=None):
    temp_dir_path = tempfile.mkdtemp()
    current_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
    shutil.copytree(f"{current_dir}/{image_type}", f"{temp_dir_path}/{image_type}", dirs_exist_ok=True)
    shutil.copytree(f"{current_dir}/resources", f"{temp_dir_path}/{image_type}/resources", dirs_exist_ok=True)
    shutil.copy(f"{current_dir}/server.properties", f"{temp_dir_path}/{image_type}")
    if kafka_archive:
        shutil.copy(kafka_archive, f"{temp_dir_path}/{image_type}/kafka.tgz")
    command = command.replace("$DOCKER_FILE", f"{temp_dir_path}/{image_type}/Dockerfile")
    command = command.replace("$DOCKER_DIR", f"{temp_dir_path}/{image_type}")
    try:

View on GitHub (pinned to c31c9215e1)

Solutions

1. Re-run the exact command shown in the error message manually to see docker's stderr, which execute() discards.
2. Ensure docker is installed, running, and docker buildx is available: docker buildx version.
3. If the failure is 'kafka-builder already exists', run docker buildx rm kafka-builder first; if 'not found', ignore or guard remove_builder().
4. Verify prerequisites from docker_release.py docstring: logged in to registry, buildx enabled, adequate disk.

Example fix

# before (execute swallows stderr)
subprocess.run(command).returncode != 0  # you see only the command
# after (capture and surface stderr)
result = subprocess.run(command, capture_output=True, text=True)
if result.returncode != 0:
    raise SystemError(f"Failure executing {command}: {result.stderr}")

# Validate the command is well-formed and the binary is on PATH before running.
import shutil, shlex
binary = command.split()[0] if isinstance(command, str) else command[0]
if not shutil.which(binary):
    raise FileNotFoundError(f"Executable not found on PATH: {binary}")

# Accept only a non-empty, shell-safe command list.
def is_executable_command(cmd) -> bool:
    if not cmd:
        return False
    parts = cmd if isinstance(cmd, list) else shlex.split(cmd)
    return len(parts) > 0 and bool(shutil.which(parts[0]))

from common import execute
try:
    execute(command)
except SystemError as e:
    # Inspect the captured command; retry only transient failures, not bad input.
    failed_cmd = e.args[1] if len(e.args) > 1 else "<unknown>"
    raise RuntimeError(f"Command failed, inspect manually: {failed_cmd}") from e

When it happens

Trigger: Any call to execute(cmd) where cmd is a list passed to subprocess.run and the spawned process exits non-zero. In this repo that means docker buildx create (line 54 of docker_release.py), docker buildx rm (line 57), or the inner execute() inside build_docker_image_runner (common.py:44).

Common situations: docker buildx not installed or not enabled, docker daemon not running, builder name 'kafka-builder' already exists (on create) or already removed (on rm), network/proxy issues pulling base images, disk full, or a malformed Dockerfile/build context path.

Related errors

• Docker Image Build failed
• Docker image push failed
• Unexpected contents in the artifact. Exactly one version dir
• This field cannot be empty
• GITHUB_TOKEN is not set in the environment

AI-assisted analysis of apache/kafka@c31c9215e1 (2026-08-03). Data as JSON: /data/errors/a84a8bf7d624887a.json. Report an issue: GitHub.