can1357/oh-my-pi · error · ArchiveError

Invalid RPM package: tag ${tag} uses unknown data type ${typ

Error message

Invalid RPM package: tag ${tag} uses unknown data type ${type}

What it means

Each RPM header index entry carries a data type (NULL=0, CHAR=1, INT8=2, INT16=3, INT32=4, INT64=5, STRING=6, BIN=7, string array=8, I18N string=9). This parser only supports those types; if an entry declares a type outside that set, the header uses an extension or is corrupt, so validation fails immediately.

Source

Thrown at packages/utils/src/ar/rpm.ts:110

			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,
	count: number,
	type: number,
	tag: number,
): string {
	if (type !== RPM_TYPE_STRING || count !== 1) {
		throw new ArchiveError(`Invalid RPM package: tag ${tag} must contain one string`);

View on GitHub (pinned to 9690622007)

Solutions

  1. Confirm the input is actually an RPM (check lead magic 0xEDABEEDB and format with `rpm -qp`).
  2. Re-download the package — an unknown type usually means corruption or a non-RPM file.
  3. If produced by internal tooling, ensure it emits only standard RPM type codes 0-9.
  4. Catch ArchiveError and route the file to a different archive reader.

Example fix

// before: assuming any sniffed file is parseable
const entries = await readRpm(source, options);
// after: pre-check magic and handle rejection
if (!sniffRpm(bytes)) throw new Error("not an RPM file");
try { entries = await readRpm(source, options); }
catch (e) { if (e instanceof ArchiveError) return null; throw e; }
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// Ensure the file is really an RPM before dispatching to the RPM reader
if (!sniffRpm(bytes.subarray(0, 96))) throw new Error("not an RPM");

Try / catch

try {
  return await readRpm(source, options);
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof ArchiveError && err.message.includes("unknown data type")) {
    return tryOtherArchiveReaders(source, options);
  }
  throw err;
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: readRpm()/parseMainHeader reads an index entry whose type field is not one of 0–9 — e.g. garbage bytes interpreted as an index, or a package written by non-standard tooling using a custom type id.

Common situations: Files that passed the 4-byte lead magic sniff but are not valid RPMs (e.g. wrong file handed to readRpm); corruption in the index region; hypothetical future/proprietary RPM type codes.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of can1357/oh-my-pi@9690622007 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a42408cbdee64192. Report an issue: GitHub.