bcicen/ctop · error

cannot pause container: %v

Error message

cannot pause container: %v

What it means

Wraps the error from the Docker Remote API's PauseContainer call in Docker.Pause. It fires when the container cannot be frozen with the cgroups freezer — the container is already paused, is not running, or the daemon/kernel does not support pausing.

Source

Thrown at connector/manager/docker.go:133

func (dc *Docker) Pause() error {
	if err := dc.client.PauseContainer(dc.id); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("cannot pause container: %v", err)
	}
	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 59f00dd6aa)

Solutions

  1. Check container state first; pausing an already-paused or stopped container fails
  2. Ensure the container is running (inspect it) before pausing
  3. Verify kernel/cgroup freezer support on the host
  4. Surface the wrapped daemon error to the user with the container ID
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at connector/manager/docker.go:133 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of bcicen/ctop@59f00dd6aa (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/59857f9ae04e56ff. Report an issue: GitHub.