astrid-runtime/astrid · error

git could not inspect captured version: {}

Error message

git could not inspect captured version: {}

What it means

`git_path_exists_at_revision` runs `git ls-tree --full-tree <revision> -- <path>` and bails with git's stderr when the command exits non-zero. Unlike a mere missing path (returns Ok(false)), this indicates git itself failed to inspect the captured version.

Source

Thrown at crates/astrid-storage-chunker-evidence/src/corpus.rs:574

        bail!("git history path must be a relative in-repository path");
    }
    Ok(())
}

fn git_path_exists_at_revision(
    repository: &Path,
    relative_path: &Path,
    revision: &str,
) -> Result<bool> {
    let tree = Command::new("git")
        .args(["-C"])
        .arg(repository)
        .args(["ls-tree", "--full-tree", revision, "--"])
        .arg(relative_path)
        .output()
        .context("inspect captured version path")?;
    if !tree.status.success() {
        bail!(
            "git could not inspect captured version: {}",
            String::from_utf8_lossy(&tree.stderr).trim()
        );
    }
    Ok(!tree.stdout.is_empty())
}

fn input_path(input: &Input) -> Option<&Path> {
    match input {
        Input::File { path, .. } => Some(path),
        Input::Memory(_) => None,
    }
}

fn memory(bytes: Vec<u8>) -> Input {
    Input::Memory(Arc::from(bytes))
}

View on GitHub (pinned to affd8760f4)

Solutions

1. Verify the revision exists: `git -C <repo> rev-parse --verify <revision>`
2. Confirm the REPO path is a valid git repository (`git -C <repo> status`) and inspect the stderr embedded in the message
3. Fix any conflicting GIT_DIR/GIT_WORK_TREE environment variables or upgrade git if `--full-tree` is unsupported

Example fix

// before
let chain = version_chain_from_git(&repo, "main", rel_path)?; // 'main' does not exist
// after
let rev = "a1b2c3d"; // verified via git rev-parse --verify a1b2c3d
let chain = version_chain_from_git(&repo, rev, rel_path)?;

let ok = std::process::Command::new("git").arg("-C").arg(repo).args(["rev-parse", "--verify", rev]).status().map(|s| s.success()).unwrap_or(false);
assert!(ok, "revision {rev} not resolvable in {repo:?}");

match version_chain_from_git(repo, rev, rel) {
    Ok(c) => c,
    Err(e) if e.to_string().starts_with("git could not inspect captured version") => {
        eprintln!("git failed for {rev}; checking stderr, retrying once");
        verify_revision(repo, rev)?;
        version_chain_from_git(repo, rev, rel)?
    }
    Err(e) => return Err(e),
}

When it happens

Trigger: `version_chain_from_git` querying a revision that doesn't exist or is malformed, running outside a valid repository (`REPO` path wrong), corrupt repo, or a git version lacking `--full-tree` support.

Common situations: Typo'd or abbreviated revision names in `--git-history`, repository path pointing at a worktree subdir instead of the repo root, HEAD on an unborn branch, or git hooks/env (GIT_DIR) interfering.

Understand the failure class

Background: "git command failed": what it means when a tool shells out to git and git exits non-zero — this error's family across 21 libraries.

Related errors

• --git-history requires non-empty NAME=REPO::RELATIVE_PATH
• --git-history requires NAME=REPO::RELATIVE_PATH
• editor '{editor}' exited with non-zero status
• failed to fetch {name} from {url} (HTTP {})
• unexpected response shape: {other:?}

AI-assisted analysis of astrid-runtime/astrid@affd8760f4 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/12b67f5ccb5c927e. Report an issue: GitHub.