astrid-runtime/astrid · error

legacy audit tree contains a redirect or boundary: {}

Error message

legacy audit tree contains a redirect or boundary: {}

What it means

While recursively validating the legacy audit tree, validate_audit_tree inspects each child with symlink_metadata and rejects any child that is a symlink, lives on a different device, or is an active mountpoint. This prevents redirected or cross-filesystem entries from being swept into the rename/delete, which could affect data outside the legacy audit layout.

Source

Thrown at crates/astrid-kernel/src/legacy_migration_barrier/host_fs.rs:539

    }
    if device_id(&metadata) != root_device || active_mountpoint(path)? {
        return Err(io::Error::new(
            io::ErrorKind::InvalidData,
            format!(
                "legacy audit tree crosses a filesystem or mount boundary: {}",
                path.display()
            ),
        ));
    }
    astrid_core::platform_fs::verify_no_redirects(path)?;
    for entry in fs::read_dir(path).map_err(io::Error::other)? {
        let child = entry.map_err(io::Error::other)?.path();
        let child_metadata = fs::symlink_metadata(&child).map_err(io::Error::other)?;
        if child_metadata.file_type().is_symlink()
            || device_id(&child_metadata) != root_device
            || active_mountpoint(&child)?
        {
            return Err(io::Error::new(
                io::ErrorKind::InvalidData,
                format!(
                    "legacy audit tree contains a redirect or boundary: {}",
                    child.display()
                ),
            ));
        }
        if child_metadata.is_dir() {
            validate_audit_tree(&child, root_device)?;
        } else if child_metadata.is_file() {
            astrid_core::platform_fs::verify_no_redirects(&child)?;
        } else {
            return Err(io::Error::new(
                io::ErrorKind::InvalidData,
                format!(
                    "legacy audit tree contains a special file: {}",
                    child.display()
                ),

View on GitHub (pinned to affd8760f4)

Solutions

  1. Replace symlinks inside the audit tree with real copies of the target data (cp -L then remove the link).
  2. Unmount any mount covering entries inside the audit tree.
  3. Move cross-device entries onto the same filesystem as the audit root, or delete them if unneeded.

Example fix

// before
current.log -> /var/log/audit/current.log (symlink)
// after
cp -L /var/log/audit/current.log ~/.astrid/principal/audit/current.log
rm ~/.astrid/principal/audit/current.log  # remove symlink, keep the copy
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

fn children_are_plain(root: &Path) -> std::io::Result<bool> {
    use std::os::unix::fs::MetadataExt;
    let root_dev = std::fs::symlink_metadata(root)?.dev();
    for entry in std::fs::read_dir(root)? {
        let m = std::fs::symlink_metadata(entry?.path())?;
        if m.file_type().is_symlink() || m.dev() != root_dev { return Ok(false); }
    }
    Ok(true)
}

Try / catch

if let Err(e) = migrate_legacy_audit(&home, &source) {
    if e.to_string().contains("contains a redirect or boundary") {
        // the message names the offending child; fix that entry and retry
    }
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Retiring or preflighting an audit tree that contains a symlinked file/subdirectory, a bind-mounted child, or any entry on another device — detected during the recursive read_dir descent.

Common situations: Symlinked log or artifact files inside the audit directory pointing elsewhere; per-directory mounts; container bind mounts over subdirectories.

Understand the failure class

Background: "is not a compatible type" / "cannot merge" errors: when a value's type doesn't match what the library requires — this error's family across 65 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of astrid-runtime/astrid@affd8760f4 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/80d40dfa91aa5288. Report an issue: GitHub.