astrid-runtime/astrid · error

signed channel lifetime exceeds the maximum for its channel

Error message

signed channel lifetime exceeds the maximum for its channel

What it means

Each channel has a maximum allowed pointer lifetime: stable 30 days, dev 7 days, nightly 2 days. Even if expiry is after publication, a pointer valid longer than its channel's cap is rejected, because long-lived pointers undermine the short-expiry trust model (a compromised file would remain usable too long).

Solutions

1. Set `expires_at = published_at + max_lifetime` for the channel (30d stable, 7d dev, 2d nightly) and republish
2. Parameterize the publishing script's expiry per channel instead of sharing one constant
3. If the pointer came from upstream and is oversized, report/fix the release automation and use a freshly generated pointer
4. Shorten the lifetime and re-sign the metadata

Example fix

// before: nightly published with stable-style expiry
let expires = published + Duration::days(30);
// after
let expires = match channel {
    UpdateChannel::Nightly => published + Duration::days(2),
    UpdateChannel::Dev => published + Duration::days(7),
    UpdateChannel::Stable => published + Duration::days(30),
};

fn lifetime_within_cap(p: &ChannelPointer, channel: UpdateChannel) -> bool {
    let days = match channel { UpdateChannel::Stable => 30, UpdateChannel::Dev => 7, UpdateChannel::Nightly => 2 };
    p.expires_at.signed_duration_since(p.published_at) <= chrono::Duration::days(days)
}

fn lifetime_ok(p: &ChannelPointer, channel: &UpdateChannel) -> bool {
    let max = match channel {
        UpdateChannel::Stable => chrono::Duration::days(30),
        UpdateChannel::Dev => chrono::Duration::days(7),
        UpdateChannel::Nightly => chrono::Duration::days(2),
    };
    p.expires_at.signed_duration_since(p.published_at) <= max
}

match parse_channel(&bytes, channel, now) {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("exceeds the maximum") => {
        anyhow::bail!("publisher misconfigured expiry for this channel; report to feed operator")
    }
    other => other?,
}

When it happens

Trigger: parse_channel or enforce_continuity reads a pointer where `expires_at - published_at` exceeds the cap for `expected_channel`, e.g. a nightly with expires 30 days after publish.

Common situations: Publisher script reusing the stable expiry (30d) constant for nightly/dev builds; hand-edited expiry extended to 'keep updates working'; template files copied between channels without adjusting lifetimes.

Understand the failure class

Background: "value must be between 0 and 1" / "out of range" / "must not be negative" errors: fixing range-validation failures across open-source libraries — this error's family across 42 libraries.

Related errors

• signed channel lifetime is invalid
• must contain exactly targets
• nightly channel must point to an exact nightly prerelease
• signed channel generation must be positive
• signed channel names

AI-assisted analysis of astrid-runtime/astrid@affd8760f4 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c7c7f54d5f2d3a8c. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/astrid-cli/src/commands/update_channel.rs:497

    let published = canonical_time(&pointer.published_at, "published-at")?;
    let expires = canonical_time(&pointer.expires_at, "expires-at")?;
    ensure!(expires > published, "signed channel lifetime is invalid");
    if let Some(now) = now {
        ensure!(now <= expires, "signed channel metadata has expired");
        let latest_reasonable_publication = now
            .checked_add_signed(chrono::Duration::seconds(MAX_FUTURE_SKEW_SECS))
            .context("channel publication skew overflowed the clock")?;
        ensure!(
            published <= latest_reasonable_publication,
            "signed channel published-at is unreasonably far in the future"
        );
    }
    let max_lifetime = match expected_channel {
        UpdateChannel::Stable => chrono::Duration::days(30),
        UpdateChannel::Dev => chrono::Duration::days(7),
        UpdateChannel::Nightly => chrono::Duration::days(2),
    };
    ensure!(
        expires.signed_duration_since(published) <= max_lifetime,
        "signed channel lifetime exceeds the maximum for its channel"
    );
    let version = canonical_version(&pointer.release.version)?;
    let nightly_commit = nightly_source_commit(&version);
    match expected_channel {
        UpdateChannel::Nightly => ensure!(
            nightly_commit.is_some() && version.build.is_empty(),
            "nightly channel must point to an exact nightly prerelease"
        ),
        UpdateChannel::Stable | UpdateChannel::Dev => ensure!(
            version.pre.is_empty() && version.build.is_empty(),
            "stable and dev channels must point to canonical releases"
        ),
    }
    ensure!(
        pointer.release.tag == format!("v{version}"),
        "signed channel release tag does not match its version"

View on GitHub (pinned to affd8760f4)