{"record":{"id":"1dc674a514a53292","repo":"thedotmack/claude-mem","slug":"uninstall-could-not-rewrite-filepath","errorCode":null,"errorMessage":"[uninstall] Could not rewrite ${filePath}:","messagePattern":"\\[uninstall\\] Could not rewrite (.+?):","errorType":"console","errorClass":null,"httpStatus":null,"severity":"warning","filePath":"src/npx-cli/commands/uninstall.ts","lineNumber":127,"sourceCode":"  const aliasLineRegex = /^\\s*alias\\s+claude-mem\\s*=/;\n\n  for (const filePath of candidateFiles) {\n    if (!existsSync(filePath)) continue;\n    let content: string;\n    try {\n      content = readFileSync(filePath, 'utf-8');\n    } catch (error: unknown) {\n      console.warn(`[uninstall] Could not read ${filePath}:`, error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error));\n      continue;\n    }\n    const lines = content.split('\\n');\n    const filtered = lines.filter((line) => !aliasLineRegex.test(line));\n    if (filtered.length === lines.length) continue; \n    try {\n      writeFileSync(filePath, filtered.join('\\n'));\n      console.error(`Removed legacy claude-mem alias from ${filePath}`);\n    } catch (error: unknown) {\n      console.warn(`[uninstall] Could not rewrite ${filePath}:`, error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error));\n    }\n  }\n}\n\nexport function removeFromClaudeSettings(): void {\n  const settings = readJsonSafe<Record<string, any>>(claudeSettingsPath(), {});\n  let dirty = false;\n\n  if (settings.enabledPlugins?.['claude-mem@thedotmack'] !== undefined) {\n    delete settings.enabledPlugins['claude-mem@thedotmack'];\n    dirty = true;\n  }\n\n  // Symmetric counterpart to disableClaudeAutoMemory() in install.ts. The\n  // installer sets env.CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_AUTO_MEMORY = \"1\" to suppress\n  // Claude Code's built-in auto-memory; on uninstall we restore the host\n  // CLI's default behavior by removing that key. The value-equality guard\n  // (=== '1') ensures we only strip the specific token the installer wrote","sourceCodeStart":109,"sourceCodeEnd":145,"githubUrl":"https://github.com/thedotmack/claude-mem/blob/d8bc9755e74915e5c3b999181e10a67c889bce2a/src/npx-cli/commands/uninstall.ts#L109-L145","documentation":"During uninstall, stripLegacyClaudeMemAlias scans shell rc files for legacy claude-mem alias lines and rewrites them with writeFileSync. When the rewrite throws (read-only file, permissions, disk error), the function logs this warning instead of failing the uninstall, since alias removal is best-effort cleanup. The uninstall continues normally.","triggerScenarios":"writeFileSync(filePath, filtered.join('\\n')) throws inside the try block — i.e. the rc file matched alias lines but could not be written back (EACCES, EROFS, ENOSPC, or the file was made read-only between read and write).","commonSituations":"Shell rc files owned by root or another user while running the uninstaller under a different account; dotfiles synced with immutable/read-only flags; a full disk; an editor holding the file with restrictive locking on unusual filesystems.","solutions":["Check and fix permissions on the reported rc file: chown yourself and chmod u+w.","Manually remove the legacy alias line from the file (search for 'claude-mem' alias).","Re-run the uninstall with sufficient privileges (e.g. sudo) if the file is root-owned.","Free disk space if the cause is ENOSPC and re-run uninstall."],"exampleFix":"// before (read-only rc file blocks rewrite)\ntry { writeFileSync(filePath, filtered.join('\\n')); } catch { warn(...); }\n// after (pre-check writability and report clearly)\nif (accessSync(filePath, W_OK) !== undefined) {\n  writeFileSync(filePath, filtered.join('\\n'));\n}","handlingStrategy":"try-catch","validationCode":"import { accessSync, constants } from 'fs';\ntry { accessSync(filePath, constants.W_OK); } catch { console.warn(`Skipping read-only file: ${filePath}`); }","typeGuard":"function isWritableError(e: unknown): e is NodeJS.ErrnoException {\n  return e instanceof Error && 'code' in e && ['EACCES','EROFS','ENOSPC'].includes((e as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code ?? '');\n}","tryCatchPattern":"try {\n  writeFileSync(filePath, filtered.join('\\n'));\n} catch (e) {\n  if (isWritableError(e)) console.warn(`Cannot write ${filePath}: ${e.code} — fix permissions and re-run`);\n  else throw e;\n}","preventionTips":["Run uninstallers as the same user that owns your dotfiles; avoid sudo for user-level tools.","Keep shell rc files writable (chmod u+w ~/.zshrc ~/.bashrc etc.).","Check disk space (df -h) before bulk file operations.","Back up dotfiles so a failed rewrite can be retried or done by hand."],"tags":["filesystem","permissions","uninstall","cleanup"],"backgroundTag":"file-write-failed","analyzedSha":"d8bc9755e74915e5c3b999181e10a67c889bce2a","analyzedAt":"2026-09-17T16:40:26.182Z","contentChangedAt":"2026-09-17T16:40:26.182Z","schemaVersion":2},"datasetVersion":"2026-09-23T08:17:48.524Z"}