can1357/oh-my-pi · error · ArchiveError

Invalid RPM package: string tag ${tag} is not NUL-terminated

Error message

Invalid RPM package: string tag ${tag} is not NUL-terminated

What it means

RPM strings are stored NUL-terminated in the header data region. When scanning a string-family tag's bytes, if the parser reaches the end of the header data without finding a 0 byte, the string is unterminated — the header is malformed. This also protects against reading past the data region into the payload.

Source

Thrown at packages/utils/src/ar/rpm.ts:104

		else if (type === 4) elementSize = 4;
		else if (type === 5) elementSize = 8;
		else if (type === 0) {
			if (count !== 0) throw new ArchiveError(`Invalid RPM package: null tag ${tag} has values`);
			continue;
		} else if (type === RPM_TYPE_STRING || type === 8 || type === 9) {
			const stringCount = type === RPM_TYPE_STRING ? 1 : count;
			if (type === RPM_TYPE_STRING && count !== 1) {
				throw new ArchiveError(`Invalid RPM package: string tag ${tag} has an invalid count`);
			}
			if (stringCount > remaining) {
				throw new ArchiveError(`Invalid RPM package: string tag ${tag} exceeds header data`);
			}
			let cursor = indexSize + offset;
			const limit = indexSize + intro.dataSize;
			for (let stringIndex = 0; stringIndex < stringCount; stringIndex++) {
				while (cursor < limit && body[cursor] !== 0) cursor++;
				if (cursor === limit) {
					throw new ArchiveError(`Invalid RPM package: string tag ${tag} is not NUL-terminated`);
				}
				cursor++;
			}
			continue;
		} else {
			throw new ArchiveError(`Invalid RPM package: tag ${tag} uses unknown data type ${type}`);
		}
		if (offset % elementSize !== 0) throw new ArchiveError(`Invalid RPM package: tag ${tag} data is misaligned`);
		if (count * elementSize > remaining)
			throw new ArchiveError(`Invalid RPM package: tag ${tag} exceeds header data`);
	}
}

function readHeaderString(
	body: Uint8Array,
	indexSize: number,
	dataSize: number,
	offset: number,

View on GitHub (pinned to 9690622007)

Solutions

Re-download or rebuild the package; the header data region is damaged or truncated.
Compare the file size/checksum against the upstream publish manifest to detect truncation.
Validate with `rpm -qp` outside this library to confirm the file is bad.
Catch ArchiveError and skip/reject the package in your ingestion pipeline.

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

try {
  const entries = await readRpm(source, options);
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof ArchiveError && err.message.includes("not NUL-terminated")) {
    return reject("truncated or corrupt RPM header");
  }
  throw err;
}

Prevention

Verify checksums and full file size (Content-Length) before parsing.
Use resumable/verified downloads to avoid partial files.
Test-parse packages at ingest time, before they are needed.

When it happens

Trigger: readRpm()/parseMainHeader validates a header whose string tag's bytes run from its offset to the very end of the data area with no NUL terminator — e.g. a truncated header where the final string's terminator was cut off.

Common situations: Files truncated mid-download (the terminator lives at the end of the data region); corruption flipping the final NUL byte; hand-built headers missing the terminator.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of can1357/oh-my-pi@9690622007 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/37746f8cee56b538. Report an issue: GitHub.